Suchergebnisse

The Minamata Convention, which entered into force on 16 August 2017, is a global, legally binding instrument on mercury. The initiative on the Minamata Convention was mainly driven by research showing negative effects on human health and the environment in the Arctic. The Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation on Arctic issues, and its Working Group, AMAP, played an important role in the process leading up to international negotiations on the Minamata Convention. This paper elucidates the evolutionary process in which scientific knowledge, herded by an intergovernmental, regional forum, is involved and forms the basis for a legally binding agreement. The paper provides new insight on multilevel governance of the mercury issue and unravels the role that AMAP has played in this dynamic process.

This special issue of FormAkademisk is a product of the lighthouse project Didaktikk for teknologi, design og innovasjon (2016–2020) (Education for technology, design and innovation), which is funded by the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design (TKD) at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) and lead by Liv Merete Nielsen. The project is a contribution to the realisation of the government's long-term (2019–2028) plan for research and higher education (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2018). The government's plans include renewing, restructuring and boosting the technology of the business community and improving quality in higher education, and the lighthouse project helps to achieve these goals, because the key to new practice lies in education. ; Dette temanummeret av FormAkademisk er et resultat av fyrtårnsprosjektet Didaktikk for teknologi, design og innovasjon (2016-2020) som er finansiert av Fakultet for Teknologi, kunst og design (TKD) ved OsloMet–storbyuniversitetet og ledet av Liv Merete Nielsen. Prosjektet er et bidrag til realiseringen av regjeringens langtidsplan for forskning og høyere utdanning 2019–2028 (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2018). Regjeringens opp­trappings­­planer inkluderer et teknologiløft, fornyelse og omstilling av nærings­livet og styrking av kvalitet i høyere utdanning. Fyrtårns­­prosjektet har som mål å bidra til å nå disse målene, fordi nøkkelen til ny praksis ligger i utdanning.

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.