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This article illustrates the practice of narrative therapy as an application of pro-feminist men's scholarship. Narrative therapy examines gender discourses that support women's oppression and men's engagement in practices of entitlement and dominance. By engaging in collaborative conversations, men in narrative therapy may develop a reflexive awareness that creates space for alternative ways of being. A case example illustrates narrative practices, such as deconstructing dominant discourses, separating the problem of male training from individual men, inviting men to examine their relationship with patriarchy and its effects on their lives and relationships, and inspiring men to perform alternative narratives of self that have preferred real effects and counter the practices of hegemonic masculinity.

This chapter examines whether including children's participatory rights in the Norwegian Constitution has had any legal or practical impact. It uses Susan White's typology of participation rights as a tool for examining whether children's participation is nominal, instrumental, representative or transformative. The preparatory works of the Norwegian Constitution are ambiguous. On the one hand, the importance of providing participation to improve the decisions made and to teach children self-determination is recognised. On the other hand, the preparatory works promote a restrictive stance in the more detailed recommendations. The preparatory works exclude collective participation as a constitutional right, but still ordinary legislation contains such rights in some domains, and youth councils are common in Norwegian municipalities. The Constitution, however, clearly enshrines participation as an individual right. This chapter analyses participation rights in cases concerning parental responsibility in both out-of-court mediation, court-connected mediation and litigation, child welfare and child protection cases in and outside courts and in health care to assess the level of protection in practice. In spite of modernisation, legislation still offers only partial protection. The right to participation, particularly as it is manifested in guidelines and practices, depends on the area of law and on the organ where decision-making takes place. It concludes with some observations on the age, maturity and increasing self-determination of children.

This article will explore the history and legacy of attempts to advocate for independence in Puerto Rico via the renunciation of United States (US) citizenship. The US acquired Puerto Rico over a century ago, and Puerto Ricans gained US citizenship in 1917, but the island remains an unincorporated territory. Various options, including independence and statehood, have been debated for decades. While voting records show that only a small percentage of the Puerto Rican population supports full independence from the United States, many pro-independence activists spurred debate by renouncing their US citizenship and claiming that they are citizens of Puerto Rico only. This raised questions as to whether they actually became stateless as a result. One of the most notable independence activists, the late Juan Mari Brás, caused confusion at the US State Department, which initially accepted his renunciation of US citizenship only to reverse its decision three years later. A discussion of the multifaceted meaning of 'citizenship' in the context of Puerto Rico illuminates the United States' approach to the international right to a nationality.

The main objective in this study is to compare the traditional TQM management concept with contemporary used learning and work practices in firms in the business sector in Sweden. Will the use of one or both of the concepts predict higher value added per employee? The two management concepts are used as measurements of endogenous activities in the firm and are included in growth models. The concepts are based on new data from the Swedish Meadow Survey 2009/10 and matched with innovation data, ICT data and register data for the year 2008 from Statistics Sweden. The Meadow Survey is based on the new proposed guideline of how to harmonise the collection and interpretation of data concerning work organisation and competence development in the European Union countries. ; URN:NBN:SE:SCB-2011-X76BR1101_pdf (pdf) QC 20171128 ; Statistics Sweden project: Organisation, growth and work environment (finished 2016)

The overall purpose of this thesis is to study how the development of the electricity transmission grids in the Nordic countries can be given a stronger international perspective. This is a relevant issue for the further development of the regional Nordic electricity market. The thesis consists of an introductory chapter and two self-contained papers.Paper I analyses how an international cost sharing agreement for transmission analyses how an international cost sharing agreement for transmission investments could be designed to improve the regional perspective in grid development. The study is focused on how different agreements may affect the investment decisions made by TSOs for grid expansions where several countries are involved. This type of expansion has become a problem in grid development because although it is beneficial for several countries, it might still not be realised due to lack of a formalised practice for sharing the investment cost. The basis for cost sharing will be a cost-benefit analysis of the regional effects that a given expansion has. To model how a cost sharing agreement can be applied to this situation, two stages are defined. First a political stage where a cost sharing agreement is assumed to be formed among the countries in a region, followed by a TSO stage where decisions on specific expansions are made. The analysis is focused on the TSOs' decisions in the second stage. Cooperative game theory (CGT) is used to predict under which agreements that an investment coalition is formed. The cost sharing agreements evaluated consist of combinations of a contribution principle, a compensation principle (to account for negative spill-overs) and an allocation rule. The results show that the design of the agreement will affect the decision to invest or not. Two alternative rules are identified as good choices for providing incentives to invest; the nucleolus and proportional rules. Regarding the compensation principles it is concluded that full compensation should not be used.Paper II develops an incentive regulation method that can be used to provide TSOs develops an incentive regulation method that can be used to provide TSOs with economic incentives to focus on electricity market integration. A benchmark model is constructed to assess the performance of TSOs in facilitating cross-border trade. The model is based on the output-oriented technical efficiency of the TSOs, which is linked to market integration by defining an output measure for TSOs that includes the market expanding effects of trade. The output measure is the sum of national electricity consumption including imports plus exports of electricity. It is argued that TSOs can increase this output by expanding the trade capacities with neighbouring countries. The benchmark model is based on a stochastic production frontier defined by a translog output distance function with two outputs and three inputs. The frontier is empirically estimated by a fixed effects model using a panel data set of six TSOs. The included TSOs are the four Nordic and those of Belgium and the Netherlands (BL-NL). The estimated efficiency scores are in the range 61-100 percent, with the Nordic TSOs showing higher scores relative BL-NL. This can be explained by a lower level of electricity trade in the BL-NL region compared to the Nordic region. The use of the efficiency scores in a regulatory incentive scheme is demonstrated. The scheme is based on a reward/penalty mechanism that uses the efficiency scores to evaluate a TSO's development between two periods in relation to a target efficiency level. The results of this study show that the suggested regulation method could be used as a means to evaluate and set targets for the TSO's task of facilitating market integration. ; Godkänd; 2010; 20101027 (hannyl); LICENTIATSEMINARIUM Ämnesområde: Nationalekonomi Examinator: Docent Robert Lundmark, Luleå tekniska universitet Extern opponent: Docent Thomas Tangerås Institutet för Näringslivsforskning, Stockholm Tid: Tisdag den 30 november, klockan 12.30 Plats: A109, Luleå tekniska universitet

This article critically analyzes the U.S. growth of sports talk radio programs, with a particular focus on its sex and gender implications. It has been argued that sports talk radio texts reinscribe dominant ideologies, namely, hegemonic masculinity. A textual and audience analysis of the most popular nationally syndicated program, The Jim Rome Show, suggests that although the program reproduces many aspects of traditional masculinity, sexism, and heterosexism, there are fissures and exceptions to the dominant, hyper-masculine discourse. For instance, Jim Rome's liberal stance on homophobia and sports indicates that sports radio may be a place for sports fans/men to discuss gender and sexuality in meaningful ways. Hence, The Jim Rome Show serves as a mediated site where men can negotiate and reconfigure masculinity in contemporary postmodern times.