Suchergebnisse

Since the early 1950's the foreign policy of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) towards Sweden and the other Western European states was dominated by a striving for diplomatic recognition. This thesis examines that striving through an analysis of the East German-Swedish relations from 1949 until 1972. The main focus is on the years 1954-1972. The thesis draws mainly on East German archival material from the ruling communist party SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands) and the GDR foreign ministry. A starting point of the thesis is that GDR generally used all its contacts abroad to further its foreign political goals. GDR's efforts to develop the relations with Sweden on seven different areas are investigated. An important aim is to analyse GDR's political utilisation of areas, such as culture and traffic, that normally are not considered political or studied by traditional political history. The application of the concept of public diplomacy is central in this context. The analysis of the Ostseewoche (Baltic Week) is a significant part of the investigation of areas that traditionally not are considered as being part of foreign policy. The Osteewoche was a week filled with cultural activities and sport. The analysis of the inaugural ceremony and other activities of the Ostseewoche shows that even official East German ceremonies were used for purposes of foreign policy. However, GDR's relations with Sweden on the normal foreign policy arenas such as diplomacy and economy are also analysed. Great weight is given to analysing the perceptions of the political elite and the foreign policy actors to understand why certain actions were taken and why certain elements were significant of the GDR foreign policy. The question of which political instruments were the most important to the East German efforts to improve the relations with Sweden is also investigated. An important result of the thesis is that GDR had a comprehensive strategy for the development of the relations with Sweden. The main elements of this strategy were in place 1958 and did largely not change since. The spreading of a positive GDR-image was a very significant element of the East German foreign policy. Sweden was one of the most important Western European countries to the GDR foreign policy during this period of time.

The change in regional governance in Sweden is regularly understood in terms of a shift from 'government' to 'governance', from a redistributive policy to a policy that aims to encourage regional innovation, competitiveness and growth. This shift also includes the adoption of global policy models, such as 'clusters'. In the literature on the global spread of policies it has been argued that a market for global policies has developed. This is not least evident through the expansion of global consultancy firms, international policy organisations as well as a cosmopolitan elite of travelling policy technocrats. Theoretically and methodologically this study contributes to scholarly discussions of how new forms of governance can be analysed, and especially how governmentality studies can be utilised and combined with analyses of the messy political practices of specific policies and programs. The study analyses the discursive shift in regional policy in Sweden: contested elements erased, conflicts concealed and the political order produced. By empirically departing from a 'cluster policy network' lodged within a Swedish region, cluster policy is analysed as an assemblage of global circuits of knowledge, expertise and local relations of power. A broad range of materials for analysis have been generated through interviews, participant observations and documents. The production of policy knowledge is an overarching political rationality of contemporary forms of regional governance, translated into technologies such as benchmarking, regional comparisons, competitions, evaluations and best-practice. Based on the empirical analyses it is argued that the lack of power critique and a hyper-rational representation of knowledge produce an international market for legitimacy. It is further argued that five characteristics of the policy regime ('the regional cluster orchestra') contributes to the reproduction of the policy regime, and relations of domination. ; Baksidestext Avhandlingen tar sin utgångspunkt i vad som har beskrivits som en marknad för globala policymodeller. I Sverige har klusterbegreppet, med ursprung i ekonomisk och geografisk teoribildning, fått stort genomslag i regionalpolitiken. I den samtida regionalpolitiken har också produktionen av olika former av policykunskap utvecklats till centrala styrningsteknologier: benchmarking, best practice, utvärderingar, uppföljningar, mätningar och konkurrensutsatta tävlingar om regionala utvecklingsmedel. Genom kunskap och ständigt lärande ska Sveriges regioner frälsas. I avhandlingen studeras den scen där ett regionalt förankrat policynätverk agerar och den kunskap som produceras. Regionalpolitikens rationalitet innebär att det blir centralt för regionerna att agera som enhetliga aktörer och visa upp en lyckad och framgångsrik fasad. Det argumenteras för att bristen på maktanalys, och en hyperrationell syn på kunskap i regionalpolitiken innebär att regionalpolitikens styrningsteknologier producerar en internationell marknad för legitimitet som i sin tur reproducerar ordningen och döljer dominansrelationer.

At the international policy level, there is a clear link between access to information about forests and the work towards sustainable land use. However, involving forests in planning for sustainable development (SuD) at the Swedish local level, by means of municipal comprehensive planning (MCP), is complicated by sector structure and legislation. Currently, there is a gap or hole in the MCP process when it comes to use and access to knowledge about forest conditions and forest land use. This hole limits the possibilities to formulate well-informed municipal visions and goals for sustainable forest land use as well as for overall SuD. Here we introduce an approach for compilation and presentation of geographic information to increase the preconditions for integrating forest information into Swedish MCP. We produce information about forest ownership patterns and forest conditions in terms of age and significant ecological and social values in forests for a case study municipality. We conclude that it is possible to effectively compile geographic and forest-related information to fill the hole in the municipal land use map. Through our approach, MCP could be strengthened as a tool for overall land use planning and hence as a base in SuD planning.

The 2016 American presidential election has been described as 'a race like no other', with reference to the tone and nature of the campaign and the stark contrast between the policy platforms of the two main contenders, as well as the unusually high stakes involved for America, the transatlantic link, and beyond. The analysis contained in this memorandum discusses the foreign, security and defense policy platforms of Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump, the leadership styles of the two main candidates, and their respective approaches to transnational alliances and partnerships. In each of three areas of comparison Clinton emerges as the markedly more predictable, more competent and better prepared contender, also reassuringly focused on strengthening ties to close allies and partners in the coming years. From the vantage point of the global order, international trade, security and stability in Europe and the Baltic Sea region, Sweden is therefore significantly more likely to benefit from a Clinton presidency than from an administration led by Trump, and might even be in a position to forge closer ties to the United States in the realm of foreign, security and defense policy following a victory for the Democratic Party candidate on 8 November.

This report is based on information collected within the context of the study concerning Community Land Rights in Niassa Province in Mozambique, with special attention paid to the programme implemented by the Malonda Foundation. This programme is supported and financed by the Swedish Government and aims to promote private investment in the province while seeking, during the course of the process, to ensure equitable and beneficial social impact as an explicit objective, in particular for the local population. The study was commissioned by Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) and the Swedish Embassy in Mozambique, as a contribution to the preparation of continued Swedish support to private sector development in Niassa Province. Provincial and local work was carried out during the period April 29th to may 22nd 2008. The team consisted of Gunilla Åkesson, team leader, from Sida's Helpdesk for Environmental Assessment, Sweden, and André Calengo, legal consultant, Mozambique. Christopher Tanner, FAO's advisor in Mozambique and specialist in the Mozambique Land Law participated as a technical advisor. During the field work the team was accompanied by staff from the Malonda programme: Célia Enusse and Francisco Pangaya, both from the Community Work Unit, Alexandre Chomar, Communications Officer and Belindo Manhiça, official from the Environment Programme.

The strategic approaches towards radical right-wing populist parties (RRP-parties) are in special focus for the thesis. The aim of the thesis is reconstruction and analysis of the content of the established parties' strategic approaches towards parties that are seen as challenging central principles of liberal democracy, such as pluralism and tolerance, and who´s presence are creating a democratic dilemma. The aim has been operationalized within a Swedish context with focus on the strategic approaches used by the Social Democratic party and the Conservative party towards the Sweden Democrats, a Swedish RRP-party. The methodological framework is built upon a qualitative perspective with focus on interviews with representatives for the two established parties and the Sweden Democrats. The empirical material has been analyzed with the PSO-theory (Position, Salience and Owner-ship theory) as point of departure. The theory shows how strategic approaches used by the established parties are related to 1)the specific political issue raised by the RRP-party and 2) the degree of threat posed by the challenging RRP-party towards the established parties. The results generated from the thesis show that the content of the strategic approaches from the established parties towards the Sweden Democrats have changed since the election 2006, from a common dissmissive strategy to a strategic approach marked by tendencies of divergence (the Social Democratic party) and vauge tendencies of convergence (the Conservative party). The thesis also shows that the specific issue politicized by the Sweden Democrats, i.e. the immigration- and refugee issue, is central to the way the content of the strategic approaches used by the two established parties has been shaped. The thesis indicates that the presence of RRP-parties have caused a situation where the democratic dilemma have become subordinated to a strategic dilemma. The established parties need to relate to the goals they are striving towards through the strategic approach of the RRP-party (such as maximation of votes) at the same time as they relate to the strongly value-charged political issue monopolized by the RRP-party.

In all parts of the world the sea is a source of life, of energy, of food, of commerce, of fun. Its water, wind, and waves are all in demand – as a playground for pleasure-seekers and nature-lovers, as a highway for international commerce, as a home for unique communities of wildlife and people. All this is also true for the Bothnian Sea, a part of the northern European Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden. The Bothnian Sea is used by two neighbouring highly developed societies. There are many demands on its resources, and its open spaces are highly coveted areas for developments such as wind power farms. This relatively sparsely habitated corner of the world is also, at least at times, a place of wild seas and ancient heritage. Like planning on land, maritime spatial planning is a process that has to incorporate ideals of the public good and the various politically-anchored ways to define this, taking in to account private development interests as well as the physical realities of limited natural resources and fragile ecosystems. This book provides an introduction to the Bothnian Sea and the ideas around maritime spatial planning for its offshore areas. We have tried to present a balance between the perspectives of competing interests. As this has been a pilot initiative, we have not aimed to give you ready answers, but instead try to provoke further debate. The Bothnian Sea and its future are in your hands. The editor

Following a multi-decadal decline of the European eel stock all across the continent, the EU adopted a protection and recovery plan in 2007, known as the Eel Regulation. Implementation, however, has come to a standstill: in 2015, the agreed goals had not been realised, the required protection had not been achieved, and from 2012 to 2015, no further reduction in mortality has been accomplished-while the stock is at a historical minimum. To analyse this manifest impasse, this article characterises the steering framework of the Eel Regulation as a governance problem. The Eel Problem is found to be extremely complex, due to many knowledge uncertainties and countless societal forces having an influence. The Eel Regulation divides this complexity along geographical lines, obliging national governments to implement national protection plans. This deliberate distribution of control has improved communication between countrymen-stakeholders, and has stimulated protective action in most EU Member States and elsewhere. In the absence of adequate international coordination and feedback on national plans, however, coherence is lacking and the common goals are not met. Actions and achievements have been assessed at the national level, but these assessments have not been evaluated internationally. Full geographical coverage has not been attained, nor is that plausible in future. Meanwhile, ICES' advice remained focused on whole-stock management, a conservative approach not matching the structure of the Eel Problem or the approach of the Eel Regulation. Hence, essentially localised problems (non-reporting, insufficient action) now lead to a hard fail, paralysing the whole European eel recovery plan. Here, I argue that immediate re-focusing protective actions, assessments, evaluations and advice on mortality goals and indicators, for each management area individually, will enable feedback on national protection plans, and in that way, will break the impasse.