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Why do we focus on the internal arrangements of the contractual process from a leadership perspective? Through empirical research where we have asked questions about the internal organizational arrangements, what kind of knowledge the organization need, and how institutional arrangements affect the contract process, we have tried to answer the main research question. We have also carried with us a question of if the organization's attachment to the public or private sector affects the arrangements. I have conducted a comparative case study where data has been generated from two public sector organizations, The National Road Administration, Helsebygg Midt-Norge, one private sector organization, Siemens, and one hybrid organization, NTE. Data was primarily generated from the governance system of the different organizations, and informant interviews. The analysis was carried out by two steps; first an empirical analysis, then a theoretical analysis, based on contractual theory, of the empirical findings. The empirical analysis shows that the organizations share the same thoughts on how to organize the contractual work; the division between the line and the project organization, the distribution of decision-making authority, and the institutionalization of a specific governance system. The organizational processes are formalized, and the governance system gives the clear recommendation on desired actions. The empirical data gives a clear understanding that the contract process is dominated by one profession — the engineers. Regarding the question on knowledge, I found the organizations to be interested foremost on problem solving competencies (engineering competencies). Other competencies, for example economic or legal competencies, where viewed as support competencies. We also found that personal skills in handling the complex and difficult processes and attitude toward ethics seemed to be of importance. On the question on how institutional elements in the organizational environment affected the contract process, we found that the overall interest of the organizations was stability and predictability. We also found that the market mechanisms cause the organizations some worry. In the end, the empirical findings did not give us any strong reasons to differentiate between public sector organizations and private sector organizations in how to deal with contractual work processes. The theoretical analysis has been carried out within classical and relational contract theory. The analysis shows that the empirical findings, to a great extend, can be explained through classical contract theory. It also gives us some ideas on what areas of the theory, especially relational contract theory that should be improved. Regarding the main research question, the conclusions indicate a need to establish a comprehensive approach to the contract process, to ensure a good balance between different partial processes. There also seem to be necessary to work on improvements on contract theory to increase the applicability of the theory, especially the relational contract theory.

The author discusses cultural change and development through an analysis of a project for increasing production of guinea pigs in the highlands of Ecuador. He opposes two models of knowledge - the traditional and the modern - in order to find discontinuities and eventually contradictions. The empirical findings show that change is difficult to implement when production has a highly symbolic value that, in addition, relates with women's status and symbolic power. However, women's status changes as women gain independence and autonomy

Norwegian peace initiatives in Eritrea The Norwegian Model is defined as flexible cooperation between government authorities, NGOs and academia applying personal networks and informal settings. The model was coined as a concept in relation to the back-channel that led to the Oslo Accord in 1993. However, similar practices within Norwegian foreign policy were manifest in previous instances as well. Through a discussion of empirical data, this article argues that Norwegian mediation in regard to the Eritrean liberation struggle was a precursor to the Norwegian Model. Adapted from the source document.

This study has developed a tool for explaining why employees fail to speak up with regard to work related criticism; there is a hidden policy of silence that teaches employees to remain silent. This hidden policy is here designated as the "Curriculum Silentium" and is described in detail on the basis of empirical and theoretical data. After identifying a gap between the intentionally and experienced policy for employees freedom of speech in organizations I suggest that there are on-going unofficial, partially hidden learning processes in the organizations. The overall research question is; How does the Curriculum Silentium; the hidden policy of silence among employees, look like? I make an analytic construction of the hidden policy as if it were planned policy, using the didactic categories applicable to organizations. These didactic categories are: goals, content, teaching strategies and the motivation of employees. The empirical data was collected in three different organizations: an elementary school, a home for the elderly and a factory in the process industry, using qualitative methods such as interviews and observation. The theoretical foundation of the study is taken from existing theory within the field of work life research and educational science. The study is not a comparative study of the three organizations, but does involve a comparison of whether and how the Curriculum Silentium is expressed in three such different organizations. The challenge of examining hidden relationships in organizations was met through the development of guidelines for an analytical approach called a critical didactic relations analysis. The study concludes that a hidden policy of silence resembling that presented here exists in organizations where employees fail to voice working life related criticism.

Decision-making processes during Norway's membership of the UNSC 2001-2002 are the empirical focus of this article. Based on anthropological fieldwork in the period, I discuss why it was necessary for practice and informal processes to be included when international organizations were being studied, but also how Norwegian UN policy was determined during the period. Furthermore, I show how formal structures are a marginalization of practical realities and how informal processes overlap formal structures on the way to consensus being achieved between member states in the UNSC. I investigate how this overlap has implications for policy-making in small states such as Norway when represented in international organizations like the UNSC. It is important to examine how formal instructions are being interpreted, adapted and reformulated through practice and informal action, and, when studying these effects, to illuminate the power relations in international politics. Adapted from the source document.

2020 saw the 80th anniversary of the occupation of Norway on 9 April 1940 and the 75th anniversary of Norway's liberation on 8 May 1945. The anniversaries provided an opportunity to reflect on these central events in Norwegian history, and to take a closer look at the war for the sake of collective remembrance. This was the background for the 2020 Agder Seminar.

This anthology consists of eight chapters that illuminate in different ways the relationship between memory and repression in the history of our understanding of the Second World War. The chapters are wide-ranging, from theory-based analyses of recognition as a concept and a phenomenon, to empirical studies of various groups' struggle for recognition. The contributors represent a number of different disciplines within the social sciences. - I 2020 var det 80 år siden Norge ble okkupert 9. april 1940 og 75 år siden frigjøringen 8. mai 1945. Det ga anledning til å minnes disse sentrale hendelsene i norsk historie, men også til å se nærmere på krigen som kollektivt minnearbeid. Dette var bakgrunnen for Agderseminaret 2020.

Denne antologien består av åtte bidrag som på ulike måter belyser forholdet mellom minne og glemsel i kunnskapshistorien om andre verdenskrig. Bidragene favner vidt. Fra teoridrevne undersøkelser av anerkjennelse som fenomen og begrep til empiriske studier av ulike gruppers kamp for anerkjennelse. Bidragsyterne representerer en rekke ulike fag innen humaniora og samfunnsvitenskap.

The duty of states to consult indigenous communities is a well-established legal principle, but its implications for practice remain uncertain. Sweden is finding itself at a particularly critical juncture as it prepares to legislate a duty to consult the Sami people in line with its international obligations. This paper explores the ability of Swedish state actors to implement the duty to consult, based on lessons from an already existing duty set out in Swedish minority law, namely to ensure the effective participation of minorities in land and resource decisions. Presenting novel empirical material on the views of Sami communities and state officials in ministries and agencies, we demonstrate the existence of considerable implementation gaps linked to practice, sectoral legislation, and political discourse. We argue that if state duties are to promote the intended intercultural reconciliation, then new measures are needed to ensure enforcement, e.g. via mechanisms of appeal and rules of nullification. In addition, sectoral resource regulations should be amended to refer to the duties set out in minority law and/or a potential new bill on consultation duty in a consistent manner. In the near-term, the state should ensure that Sami communities are adequately resourced to engage in consultation and should invest in state authorities' own ability to implement, i.e. through competence development, staffing, intersectoral coordination, and independent evaluation. Much could also be gained if state agencies and Sami communities worked together to develop detailed consultation routines for relevant resource sectors.

This book is about possibilities for, challenges for and knowledge about local cultural work among young people. It describes cultural work at a municipal level but shows also how this work is aiming to reach goals that it has in common with national cultural policy: quality, participation, inclusion, diversity and democracy. Using the municipality and town of Drammen as a vantage point, the book investigates how different parameters effect local cultural work, and how cultural policy at a municipal level is, by necessity, pragmatic, practical and sometimes prosaic. This topic is dealt with through a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis. The empirical data presented and discussed in the book is a combination of qualitative case studies and quantitative survey data. The survey data shows variations and patterns in the cultural consumption of an age cohort in the municipality, and the case studies show different ways of effectuating and organizing cultural work at this level. Finally, the book discusses the complex interplay between means and ends when a municipality is working to make culture matter for young people. - Denne boken handler om muligheter, utfordringer og kunnskap i lokalt kulturarbeid blant barn og unge. Den beskriver kulturarbeid på kommunalt nivå, men viser også hvordan dette arbeidet tar sikte på å nå nasjonale kulturpolitiske mål som kvalitet, deltakelse, inkludering, mangfold og demokrati. Med Drammen som et utsiktspunkt, undersøker boken hvordan ulike faktorer påvirker lokalt kulturarbeid, og hvordan kulturpolitikken på kommunalt nivå nødvendigvis er både pragmatisk og prinsipiell, praktisk og prosaisk. De empiriske dataene som presenteres og diskuteres i boken er en kombinasjon av kvalitative casestudier og kvantitative surveydata. Surveydataene viser variasjoner og mønstre i det kulturelle forbruket blant en hel aldersgruppe, og case-studiene viser ulike måter å gjennomføre og organisere kulturarbeid på dette området. Boken drøfter også det komplekse samspillet mellom midler og mål som er involvert når en kommune arbeider for å gjøre kultur betydningsfullt for unge mennesker.

This thesis studies three major reforms in the public sector of Norway. The sectors studied are the police, higher education, and primary schools. The main motive for studying these reforms are of a theoretical nature, the reason to study them is to produce general knowledge about reforms. The study aims to answer two main questions. One is about the possibilities and limitations contained in using reforms to change organizations. The second is about how organizations can promote the ideals of representative democracy. In its efforts to attain answers to these questions the thesis blends empirically-oriented research with aspects of organization theory and political theory. The thesis is divided into four different parts. First, there is a descriptive presentation of the three reforms. Secondly, there is a discussion of various theories of reforms and organizations. The primary aim of this analysis is to illuminate and explain the empirical data, but this discussion should also provide its own answers to the main questions asked in the thesis. Thirdly, these theories are applied to analyze data from the three reforms. And finally, the study concludes with a summary of what general insights about the reforms we are left with after studying the Quality Reform, The Police Reform 2000, and the Knowledge Reform. The study shows that reforms have both policy and content aspects, and that it is important to distinguish between the two in order to analyse and understand them. The policy aspect is that reforms are a strategy for change - they are tools for implementing change in organizations. The content aspect is that reforms have a specific content - they have certain objectives that they want to realize. The study concludes that in order to understand this complex and fascinating phenomenon, we need to understand reforms both as instrumental tools, institutional adaptations and symbols.