A cooperação transfronteiriça como oportunidade de desenvolvimento das regiões de fronteira. Da Raia Ibérica à euroregião Galiza-Norte de Portugal

Tese de Doutoramento em Geografia Humana.

Potencial geopolítico da língua portuguesa para Timor-Leste

Dissertação de mestrado em Relações Internacionais

Crescer & saúde : desenvolvimento e comportamento dos adolescentes e jovens recém ingressados no 1º ano do ISCED de Benguela, ensino superior público

Ao abordarmos a temática “Crescer & Saúde-Desenvolvimento e Comportamento dos Adolescentes e Jovens Recém-Ingressados no ISCED de Benguela”, enfatizamos a relevância dos aspetos que constituem a sua génese, no sentido de sugerir ações que contribuam para uma educação para a saúde no âmbito do sistema educativo do ensino superior público em Benguela, e a sua promoção na formação de professores. A questão de partida do estudo foi: Qual é a situação dos adolescentes e jovens em matéria de comportamentos de saúde e seus contextos? Para responder à questão, foram desenvolvidos dois estudos: O estudo quantitativo realizado através de um questionário constituído, entre outras, por questões do Health Behaviour School Aged-Children (HBSC) (Currie, et al., 2001, Matos et al., 2002, 2010), contou com um universo estudantil distribuído por nove especialidades. Assim sendo, foi extraída uma amostra de 20% do total de indivíduos que frequentam o primeiro ano, num total de 255 estudantes. O estudo qualitativo, através de grupos focais, contou com 78 indivíduos, distribuídos entre a universidade pública e privada, e teve a finalidade de caracterizar os comportamentos sexuais e outros aspetos relacionados com a saúde nos adolescentes e jovens do 1º ano do ISCED de Benguela. Os resultados refletem a necessidade de uma educação com cariz formativo e informativo que desenvolva ações pedagógicas específicas de dimensão social, presente nas várias instâncias de socialização, através da interação social para que os jovens adquiram normas, atitudes, conhecimentos e comportamentos aceites socialmente. Esperamos que o presente sirva de ferramenta importante para melhor conhecimento dos seus comportamentos, estilo de vida, conhecimentos face ao VIH/SIDA e IST’s, comportamento de risco, saúde mental, atitudes face à diferença e às adversidades, entre outros aspetos, permitindo o exercício de uma influência positiva por parte dos trabalhadores da instituição, dos colegas, familiares e sociedade civil.

La participation des consommateurs à la construction de l'autorité des normes internationales : vers une économie politique internationale de la traduction

Cette thèse explore les implications politiques de la montée en puissance des normes internationales sur nos sociétés contemporaines et pose la problématique des dynamiques participatives des représentants des consommateurs au sein des formes de pouvoir non étatique à l'aide du cas de l'Organisation internationale de normalisation (ISO). Le renforcement du pouvoir des normes internationales et autres spécifications techniques soulève d'importants enjeux démocratiques qui portent aussi bien sur la représentativité des acteurs qui les élaborent, sur l'articulation des prérogatives publiques et privées dans la gouvernance de la mondialisation, que sur le rôle de l'expertise dans la reconnaissance de ces nouvelles formes de pouvoir. La participation du monde associatif intervient sur ces différents enjeux de manière complexe. Cette recherche s'inscrit à la suite des études en relations internationales/économie politique internationale sur les formes d'autorité non étatique et s'inspire du concept de traduction issu de la sociologie des sciences et techniques pour mettre en lumière le rôle des spécifications techniques dans la construction d'une société de consommation centrée sur la liberté de choix et la façon dont les associations de consommateurs se saisissent des arènes de normalisation pour y faire valoir des préoccupations collectives, leur expertise et leur identité. Cette thèse défend l'idée que les consommateurs participent à la construction de l'autorité des normes internationales par leur rôle dans la traduction qui permet de relier les spécifications techniques au fonctionnement des marchés, au cadre réglementaire de la loi et aux préoccupations sociétales. L'analyse repose sur une observation ethnographique des délibérations d'un comité technique de l'ISO, une recherche-­‐action, la réalisation d'entretiens et la consultation de documents d'archives de l'ISO. -- This thesis explores the political significance of the rise of international standards on contemporary societies and questions the participatory dynamics of consumers' representatives within nonstate forms of power, using the case of the International organization for standardization (ISO). The power granted to international standards and other technical specifications raises important democratic issues regarding the representativity of standard-­‐ writers, the public-­‐private relationships involved in this form of governance or the expertise sustaining the recognition of such new forms of power. The participation of civil society associations affect such issues in complex ways. This research relies on international relations/international political economy approaches of nonstate authority and takes inspiration from the concept of translation developed by science and technology studies to highlight the crucial role played by technical specifications in building a consumer society based on the freedom of choice as well as how consumers' associations take stock of standardization arenas to promote collective issues and claim their expertise and identity. This thesis argues that consumers contribute to the construction of the authority of international standards through their role in the translation that links international standards to the market society, the regulatory state as well as to societal preoccupation. The analysis is based on an ethnographic observation of deliberations within an ISO technical committee, a research-­‐action, interviews as well as on the consultation of ISO archives.

Playing Second Fiddle: Expert Advice and Decision-Making in Switzerland

This thesis concerns the role of scientific expertise in the decision-making process at the Swiss federal level of government. It aims to understand how institutional and issue-specific factors influence three things: the distribution of access to scientific expertise, its valuation by participants in policy for- mulation, and the consequence(s) its mobilization has on policy politics and design. The theoretical framework developed builds on the assumption that scientific expertise is a strategic resource. In order to effectively mobilize this resource, actors require financial and organizational resources, as well as the conviction that it can advance their instrumental interests within a particular action situation. Institutions of the political system allocate these financial and organizational resources, influence the supply of scientific expertise, and help shape the venue of its deployment. Issue structures, in turn, condition both interaction configurations and the way in which these are anticipated by actors. This affects the perceived utility of expertise mobilization, mediating its consequences. The findings of this study show that the ability to access and control scientific expertise is strongly concentrated in the hands of the federal administration. Civil society actors have weak capacities to mobilize it, and the autonomy of institutionalized advisory bodies is limited. Moreover, the production of scientific expertise is undergoing a process of professionalization which strengthens the position of the federal administration as the (main) mandating agent. Despite increased political polarization and less inclu- sive decision-making, scientific expertise remains anchored in the policy subsystem, rather than being used to legitimate policy through appeals to the wider population. Finally, the structure of a policy problem matters both for expertise mobilization and for the latter's impact on the policy process, be- cause it conditions conflict structures and their anticipation. Structured problems result in a greater overlap between the principal of expertise mobilization and its intended audience, thereby increasing the chance that expertise shapes policy design. Conversely, less structured problems, especially those that involve conflicts about values and goals, reduce the impact of expertise.

Forecasting nano law: defining nano

Law and science have partnered together in the recent past to solve major public health issues, ranging from asbestos to averting the threat of a nuclear holocaust. This paper travels to a legal and health policy frontier where no one has gone before, examining the role of precautionary principles under international law as a matter of codified international jurisprudence by examining draft terminology from prominent sources including the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (UK), the Swiss Confederation, the USA (NIOSH) and the OECD. The research questions addressed are how can the benefits of nanotechnology be realized, while minimizing the risk of harm? What law, if any, applies to protect consumers (who comprise the general public, nanotechnology workers and their corporate social partners) and other stakeholders within civil society from liability? What law, if any, applies to prevent harm?

Perspectives sobre la participació juvenil: cal modificar o incorporar la participació puntual?

S’analitza quina és la situació de la participació juvenil en el context social, econòmic i cultural en el que vivim actualment, així com les diferents perspectives que conviuen al respecte. Després es descriuen algunes de les diferents formes de participació que existeixen en l’actualitat, focalitzant-nos en les perspectives que cada un té sobre la participació puntual/individual. Per últim, s’exposa un cas concret de participació sobre els consells municipals de la ciutat de Mataró, i de manera específica, s’analitza el Consell Municipal de Joventut de la ciutat. L’eix central del treball és posar de manifest el dualisme existent vers la participació puntual, esporàdica o individual; dualisme entre si cal incorporar i/o acceptar aquest tipus de participació perquè és el resultat del nostre temps i és quelcom positiu; o bé, si el que cal és modificar la participació puntual perquè va en contra de l’ideal participatiu on l’associacionisme és la clau per crear teixit social i arribar a una plena ciutadania

EU's democracy promotion policy in the Mediterranean: Squaring the stability – democracy circle?

Why does the EU have an ambiguous and inconsistent democracy promotion (DP) policy towards the Mediterranean countries? This paper argues that the EU´s DP is determined by a crucial conflict of interests conceptualised as a stability – democracy dilemma. The EU has been attempting to promote democracy, but without risking the current stability and in connivance with incumbent autocratic regimes. In view of this dilemma, the four main characteristics of the EU´s DP promotion are explored, namely: gradualism, a strong notion of partnership-building, a narrow definition of civil society, and a strong belief in economic liberalisation. A fifth feature, relation of the EU with moderate Islamists, is analysed in the paper as it represents the most striking illustration of its contradictions. The paper concludes by arguing that the definition of a clear DP by the EU that considered engagement with moderate Islamists would represent a major step towards squaring its stability – democracy circle.

A three-pronged approach to social business: a Brazilian multi-case analysis

Social businesses present a new paradigm to capitalism, in which private companies, non-profit organizations and civil society create a new type of business with the main objective of solving social problems with financial sustainability and efficiency through market mechanisms. As any new phenomenon, different authors conceptualize social businesses with distinct views. This article aims to present and characterize three different perspectives of social business definitions: the European, the American and that of the emerging countries. Each one of these views was illustrated by a different Brazilian case. We conclude with the idea that all the cases have similar characteristics, but also relevant differences that are more than merely geographical. The perspectives analyzed in this paper provide an analytical framework for understanding the field of social businesses. Moreover, the cases demonstrate that in the Brazilian context the field of social business is under construction and that as such it draws on different conceptual influences to deal with a complex and challenging reality.

The generation and re-generation of social capital and enterprises in multi-stakeholders social cooperative enterprises: a system dynamic approach

Theories on social capital and on social entrepreneurship have mainly highlighted the attitude of social capital to generate enterprises and to foster good relations between third sector organizations and the public sector. This paper considers the social capital in a specific third sector enterprise; here, multi-stakeholder social cooperatives are seen, at the same time, as social capital results, creators and incubators. In the particular enterprises that identify themselves as community social enterprises, social capital, both as organizational and relational capital, is fundamental: SCEs arise from but also produce and disseminate social capital. This paper aims to improve the building of relational social capital and the refining of helpful relations drawn from other arenas, where they were created and from where they are sometimes transferred to other realities, where their role is carried on further (often working in non-profit, horizontally and vertically arranged groups, where they share resources and relations). To represent this perspective, we use a qualitative system dynamic approach in which social capital is measured using proxies. Cooperation of volunteers, customers, community leaders and third sector local organizations is fundamental to establish trust relations between public local authorities and cooperatives. These relations help the latter to maintain long-term contracts with local authorities as providers of social services and enable them to add innovation to their services, by developing experiences and management models and maintaining an interchange with civil servants regarding these matters. The long-term relations and the organizational relations linking SCEs and public organizations help to create and to renovate social capital. Thus, multi-stakeholder cooperatives originated via social capital developed in third sector organizations produce new social capital within the cooperatives themselves and between different cooperatives (entrepreneurial components of the third sector) and the public sector. In their entrepreneurial life, cooperatives have to contrast the "working drift," as a result of which only workers remain as members of the cooperative, while other stakeholders leave the organization. Those who are not workers in the cooperative are (stake)holders with "weak ties," who are nevertheless fundamental in making a worker's cooperative an authentic social multi-stakeholders cooperative. To maintain multi-stakeholder governance and the relations with third sector and civil society, social cooperatives have to reinforce participation and dialogue with civil society through ongoing efforts to include people that provide social proposals. We try to represent these processes in a system dynamic model applied to local cooperatives, measuring the social capital created by the social cooperative through proxies, such as number of volunteers and strong cooperation with public institutions. Using a reverse-engineering approach, we can individuate the determinants of the creation of social capital and thereby give support to governance that creates social capital.

Tri-sector partnerships in social entrepreneurship: discourse and practice of the actors from the circles of action and reflection

This article discusses the construction of tri-sector partnerships in three projects conducted in Brazil in different fields of intervention of public policy (access to water, basic education and performance of boards of rights of children and adolescents). Collaborative articulations involving the players from three sectors (the State, civil society and the market) are practices that are little studied in the Brazilian and even in the international context, as tri-sector partnerships are rare, despite the proliferation of lines of discourse in support of alliances between governments and civil society or between companies and NGOs in the management of public policy. As a research strategy, this study resorted to cooperative inquiry, a method that involves breaking down the boundaries between the subjects and the objects of the analysis. Besides working toward a better understanding of the challenges of building tri-sector partnerships in the Brazilian context, the article also tries to show the relevance to public policy studies of investigative methods based on the subjects studied, as a means of developing an understanding of the practices, lines of discourse and dilemmas linked to social action in social programs.

A study of governance practices in corporate foundations

Implementation of social investments through corporate foundations is growing and, therefore, it is important to study their governance aspects better. Governance is conceptualized as a set of control and incentive mechanisms to overcome the so-called agency conflicts, which originate from the separation of property and management in for-profit organizations, a concept also applied to nonprofit institutions. It is argued that corporate foundations have the characteristics both of companies and of civil society organizations, which distinguishes them from both types of organizations. This paper analyses a study in which a set of governance mechanisms, adapted from those identified by a literature review of corporate and nonprofit governance, was selected for study. It is an exploratory descriptive case study, which analyzed data about eight organizations collected through publications and interviews with their CEOs. The data analysis indicates that it is appropriate to distinguish the different organization types and to apply the agency theory. Research results indicate that the selected governance mechanisms may be adapted and used in corporate foundations. However, they are only partially applied in the observed cases, which suggests the need for further studies that might consolidate these practices in such organizations.

A professor on a mission

How the INTERNORM project can be a way to influence the development of international standards and reinforce the commitment of academia to support a greater participation of civil society to transnational regulatory processes remote from the public.

On Strong Citizens: A Sociological View on Cognitions and Contentious Participation

The present thesis is about cognitions of left-wing activists and the role they play to better understand contentious participation. It compares activists of three post-industrial social movement organizations in Switzerland, i.e. Solidarity across Borders defending migrant's rights, the Society of Threatened People promoting collective human rights and Greenpeace protecting the environment. It makes use of an innovative mixed methods design combining survey and interview data. The main theoretical contribution is to conceptualize an analytical tool enabling to grasp the cognitive map of these activists by putting forward the concept of strong citizen, summing up their relation to society and politics. The relation to society consists of an extensive relation to others and an interconnected vision of society. Consequently, their primary concerns include the handing of common goods and the equal treatment of individuals with regard to common goods. The relation to politics incorporates a critical and vigilant citizen. They are critical towards political authorities and they appreciate political action by organized groups of the civil society. The thesis states that only by having such worldviews activists are able to construct an injustice, agency and identity frame for the claims of their organizations. Thus, the present work delivers a parsimonious answer to the question of where an injustice, agency and identity frame comes from. It does so by a systematic analysis of four specific arguments. First, it empirically demonstrates that these activists have - at the aggregate level - specific cognitive resources compared to the general population. Second, it describes the content of this specific cognitive outlook by evaluating the appropriateness of the strong citizen concept. Third, it looks at variations between activist's communities and shows that activists of more challenging protest issues are stronger citizens than activists of more mainstream protests. Finally, cognitions are not the only part of the story if one looks at contentious participation. Other factors, i.e. social networks and biographical availability, matter too. Therefore, I test if cognitions are able to contribute in explaining differences between activists' communities if one controls for other factors. In sum, this thesis is thus a first step to demonstrate why one should be concerned about activists' cognitions. - Cette thèse s'intéresse aux cognitions des activistes de gauche et à leur rôle dans le phénomène de la participation contestataire. Des activistes de trois organisations post- industrielles en Suisse sont comparé, à savoir Solidarité sans Frontières qui défend les droits des migrants, la Société des Peuples menacés qui promeut les droits des collectivités minoritaires et Greenpeace qui oeuvre pour la protection de l'environnement. Cette recherche utilise un « mixed methods design » en combinant de manière innovant des données de sondage et d'entretiens. Ma principale contribution théorique réside dans la conceptualisation d'un outil analytique qui permet de saisir la « carte cognitive » des activistes, à travers le concept de « strong citizen » qui se réfère à la relation spécifique qu'entretiennent certains individus avec la société et la politique. Ces individus sont caractérisés par une vision inclusive et interconnectée de la société, ainsi que par une conception politique du citoyen comme critique et vigilant. Mon argument principal est celui selon lequel seuls les individus possédant ce type particulier de cognitions sont capable de construire un cadre d'injustice, d'« agency » et d'identité. Cette thèse apporte donc quelques éléments de réponse à la question de l'origine de ces cadres cognitifs qui sont cruciales pour la participation. Pour ce faire, quatre aspects spécifiques sont analysés de manière systématique. Premièrement, je démontre empiriquement, au niveau agrégé, que ces activistes possèdent effectivement des ressources cognitives spécifiques - en comparaison avec la population générale. Deuxièmement, j'analyse le contenu de ces cognitions, ce qui me permet notamment d'évaluer la pertinence et l'adéquation du concept de « strong citizen ». Troisièmement, en m'intéressant cette fois aux variations entre communautés d'activistes, je démontre que ceux réunis autour d'enjeux protestataires très revendicatifs sont, d'un point de vue cognitif, plus proches de la figure du « strong citizen » que ceux mobilisés sur des enjeux plus consensuels. Finalement, d'autres facteurs, à savoir les réseaux sociaux et la disponibilité biographique, sont intégrés à l'analyse afin de mesurer le réel pouvoir explicatif des cognitions dans l'explication des différences observées entre communautés d'activistes. A travers ces analyses, cette thèse met en avant l'importance du rôle des cognitions dans l'étude de la participation contestataire.