@phdthesis{Schrauth2022,
  author    = {Schrauth, Philipp},
  title     = {Agglomerations, air quality and urban transformation},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-58608},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-586087},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {253},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Die vorliegende Dissertation stellt empirische Untersuchungen {\"u}ber den Zusammenhang von st{\"a}dtischem Leben und dessen {\"o}konomische Kosten, insbesondere f{\"u}r die Umwelt, an. Dabei werden zum einen bestehende Forschungsl{\"u}cken des Einflusses von Bev{\"o}lkerungsdichte auf die Luftqualit{\"a}t geschlossen und zum anderen innovative Politikmaßnahmen im Verkehrsbereich untersucht, die Ballungsr{\"a}ume nachhaltiger gestalten sollen. Im Zentrum der Betrachtungen stehen Luftverschmutzung, Staus und Verkehrsunf{\"a}lle, die f{\"u}r Fragen der allgemeinen Wohlfahrt bedeutend sind und erhebliche Kostenfaktoren f{\"u}r urbanes Leben darstellen. Von ihnen ist ein betr{\"a}chtlicher Anteil der Weltbev{\"o}lkerung betroffen. W{\"a}hrend im Jahr 2018 bereits 55\% der Menschen weltweit in St{\"a}dten lebten, soll dieser Anteil bis zum Jahr 2050 ungef{\"a}hr 68\% betragen. Die vier in sich geschlossenen Kapitel dieser Arbeit lassen sich in zwei Abschnitte aufteilen: In den Kapiteln 2 und 3 werden neue kausale Erkenntnisse {\"u}ber das komplexe Zusammenspiel von st{\"a}dtischen Strukturen und Luftverschmutzung erbracht. Kapitel 4 und 5 untersuchen anschließend politische Maßnahmen zur F{\"o}rderung nicht-motorisierter Verkehrsmittel und deren Einfluss auf Luftqualit{\"a}t sowie Staugeschehen und Verkehrsunf{\"a}lle.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Molinengo2022,
  author    = {Molinengo, Giulia},
  title     = {The micropolitics of collaborative governance},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-57712},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-577123},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {x, 128},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Why do exercises in collaborative governance often witness more impasse than advantage? This cumulative dissertation undertakes a micro-level analysis of collaborative governance to tackle this research puzzle. It situates micropolitics at the very center of analysis: a wide range of activities, interventions, and tactics used by actors - be they conveners, facilitators, or participants - to shape the collaborative exercise. It is by focusing on these daily minutiae, and on the consequences that they bring along, the study argues, that we can better understand why and how collaboration can become stuck or unproductive. To do so, the foundational part of this dissertation (Article 1) uses power as a sensitizing concept to investigate the micro-dynamics that shape collaboration. It develops an analytical approach to advance the study of collaborative governance at the empirical level under a power-sensitive and process-oriented perspective. The subsequent articles follow the dissertation's red thread of investigating the micropolitics of collaborative governance by showing facilitation artefacts' interrelatedness and contribution to the potential success or failure of collaborative arrangements (Article 2); and by examining the specialized knowledge, skills and practices mobilized when designing a collaborative process (Article 3). The work is based on an abductive research approach, tacking back and forth between empirical data and theory, and offers a repertoire of concepts - from analytical terms (designed and emerging interaction orders, flows of power, arenas for power), to facilitation practices (scripting, situating, and supervising) and types of knowledge (process expertise) - to illustrate and study the detailed and constant work (and rework) that surrounds collaborative arrangements. These concepts sharpen the way researchers can look at, observe, and understand collaborative processes at a micro level. The thesis thereby elucidates the subtleties of power, which may be overlooked if we focus only on outcomes rather than the processes that engender them, and supports efforts to identify potential sources of impasse.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Kambasu2023,
  author    = {Kambasu, Obed},
  title     = {Attractiveness of government as an employer: The paradox of industrial action and public service attractiveness},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-57654},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-576542},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xiii, 182, xxxi},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {This research investigated the relationship between frequent engagement in industrial action (also known as 'employee strikes') and the internal attractiveness of government employment. It focused on a special group of public employees: public university lecturers and public-school teachers in Uganda who frequently engaged in industrial action. At the very basic level, the research explored whether public employees frequently engaged in industrial action because they considered public service employment to be unattractive or whether frequent engagement in industrial action was in fact part of the attractiveness of government employment. Beyond exploring these relationships, it also explained why (or why not) such relationships existed. Methodologically, the research was conducted using an exploratory sequential design - a mixed methods study design that starts with a qualitative followed by a quantitative phase. It is the results of the initial qualitative phase that determined the direction of the subsequent quantitative phase. The qualitative phase started with an exploration of the relationship between industrial action and internal public service attractiveness, resulting into two specific research questions: 1) Why do public employees engage in industrial action and what role does frequent engagement in industrial action play in their perception of public service attractiveness? 2) Why and how is organizational justice related to public employees' perception of public service attractiveness? The above questions were answered both qualitatively and quantitatively. The theoretical postulations of the Social Movements Theories, Social Exchange Theory, and the Signaling Theory were used to structure the research assumptions and hypotheses. The results showed that public employees engaged in industrial action mostly because of relative, rather than absolute deprivation. An established culture of workplace militancy was also found to be key in actualizing industrial action as was the (perceived) absence of alternatives to achieve workplace justice. Importantly, there was a clear dichotomy between absolute working conditions and frequent engagement in industrial action. Frequent engagement in industrial action was itself found to have both positive and negative effects on internal public service attractiveness. It was also found that public service attractiveness from the perspective of current public employees might be different from what it is from the perspective of prospective employees. This is because current public employees do not assume what it feels like to work for government, but mostly use their day-to-day lived experiences to judge the attractiveness of their employer. The existing literature is particularly deficient on analyzing public service attractiveness from an internal perspective, which is surprising given the public sector's high reliance on internal recruitment. The research results underlined key implications for theory, practice, and research. At theory level, the results suggested that public employee ratings of internal public service attractiveness were heavily affected by halo effects and should therefore not be taken at face value. The complex workplace social exchanges which are deeply rooted in organizational justice and the 'personification metaphor' were also emphasized. From an empirical perspective, the results underlined the need to prioritize internal public service attractiveness as recent research has confirmed the value of family socialization and internal recommendations in making public sector employment attractive, even to external applicants. This research argues that the centrality of organizational justice in public sector employee relations requires public sector organizations to be intentional in their bid to create fair, just, and attractive workplaces. Beyond assessing the fairness of personnel policies, procedures, and interactional relationships, it is also important to prepare and equip public managers with the right skills to promote and practice justice in their day-to-day interactions with public employees, and to encourage, improve, and facilitate alternative public employee feedback mechanisms.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Heuberger2022,
  author    = {Heuberger, Moritz},
  title     = {Coordinating digital government},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-56269},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-562691},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xiii, 136},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {This thesis is analyzing multiple coordination challenges which arise with the digital transformation of public administration in federal systems, illustrated by four case studies in Germany. I make various observations within a multi-level system and provide an in-depth analysis. Theoretical explanations from both federalism research and neo-institutionalism are utilized to explain the findings of the empirical driven work. The four articles evince a holistic picture of the German case and elucidate its role as a digital government laggard. Their foci range from macro, over meso to micro level of public administration, differentiating between the governance and the tool dimension of digital government. The first article shows how multi-level negotiations lead to expensive but eventually satisfying solutions for the involved actors, creating a subtle balance between centralization and decentralization. The second article identifies legal, technical, and organizational barriers for cross-organizational service provision, highlighting the importance of inter-organizational and inter-disciplinary exchange and both a common language and trust. Institutional change and its effects on the micro level, on citizens and the employees in local one-stop shops, mark the focus of the third article, bridging the gap between reforms and the administrative reality on the local level. The fourth article looks at the citizens' perspective on digital government reforms, their expectations, use and satisfaction. In this vein, this thesis provides a detailed account of the importance of understanding the digital divide and therefore the necessity of reaching out to different recipients of digital government reforms. I draw conclusions from the factors identified as causes for Germany's shortcomings for other federal systems where feasible and derive reform potential therefrom. This allows to gain a new perspective on digital government and its coordination challenges in federal contexts.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Elsaesser2023,
  author    = {Els{\"a}sser, Joshua Philipp},
  title     = {United Nations beyond the state? Interactions of intergovernmental treaty secretariats in global environmental governance},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-62165},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-621651},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xi, 204},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Within the context of United Nations (UN) environmental institutions, it has become apparent that intergovernmental responses alone have been insufficient for dealing with pressing transboundary environmental problems. Diverging economic and political interests, as well as broader changes in power dynamics and norms within global (environmental) governance, have resulted in negotiation and implementation efforts by UN member states becoming stuck in institutional gridlock and inertia. These developments have sparked a renewed debate among scholars and practitioners about an imminent crisis of multilateralism, accompanied by calls for reforming UN environmental institutions. However, with the rise of transnational actors and institutions, states are not the only relevant actors in global environmental governance. In fact, the fragmented architectures of different policy domains are populated by a hybrid mix of state and non-state actors, as well as intergovernmental and transnational institutions. Therefore, coping with the complex challenges posed by severe and ecologically interdependent transboundary environmental problems requires global cooperation and careful management from actors beyond national governments. This thesis investigates the interactions of three intergovernmental UN treaty secretariats in global environmental governance. These are the secretariats of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. While previous research has acknowledged the increasing autonomy and influence of treaty secretariats in global policy-making, little attention has been paid to their strategic interactions with non-state actors, such as non-governmental organizations, civil society actors, businesses, and transnational institutions and networks, or their coordination with other UN agencies. Through qualitative case-study research, this thesis explores the means and mechanisms of these interactions and investigates their consequences for enhancing the effectiveness and coherence of institutional responses to underlying and interdependent environmental issues. Following a new institutionalist ontology, the conceptual and theoretical framework of this study draws on global governance research, regime theory, and scholarship on international bureaucracies. From an actor-centered perspective on institutional interplay, the thesis employs concepts such as orchestration and interplay management to assess the interactions of and among treaty secretariats. The research methodology involves structured, focused comparison, and process-tracing techniques to analyze empirical data from diverse sources, including official documents, various secondary materials, semi-structured interviews with secretariat staff and policymakers, and observations at intergovernmental conferences. The main findings of this research demonstrate that secretariats employ tailored orchestration styles to manage or bypass national governments, thereby raising global ambition levels for addressing transboundary environmental problems. Additionally, they engage in joint interplay management to facilitate information sharing, strategize activities, and mobilize relevant actors, thereby improving coherence across UN environmental institutions. Treaty secretariats play a substantial role in influencing discourses and knowledge exchange with a wide range of actors. However, they face barriers, such as limited resources, mandates, varying leadership priorities, and degrees of politicization within institutional processes, which may hinder their impact. Nevertheless, the secretariats, together with non-state actors, have made progress in advancing norm-building processes, integrated policy-making, capacity building, and implementation efforts within and across framework conventions. Moreover, they utilize innovative means of coordination with actors beyond national governments, such as data-driven governance, to provide policy-relevant information for achieving overarching governance targets. Importantly, this research highlights the growing interactions between treaty secretariats and non-state actors, which not only shape policy outcomes but also have broader implications for the polity and politics of international institutions. The findings offer opportunities for rethinking collective agency and actor dynamics within UN entities, addressing gaps in institutionalist theory concerning the interaction of actors in inter-institutional spaces. Furthermore, the study addresses emerging challenges and trends in global environmental governance that are pertinent to future policy-making. These include reflections for the debate on reforming international institutions, the role of emerging powers in a changing international world order, and the convergence of public and private authority through new alliance-building and a division of labor between international bureaucracies and non-state actors in global environmental governance.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{CamposdeAndrade2023,
  author    = {Campos de Andrade, Andr{\´e} Luiz},
  title     = {Governing climate change in Brazil},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-58733},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-587336},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xxvii, 272},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Enacted in 2009, the National Policy on Climate Change (PNMC) is a milestone in the institutionalisation of climate action in Brazil. It sets greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets and a set of principles and directives that are intended to lay the foundations for a cross-sectoral and multilevel climate policy in the country. However, after more than a decade since its establishment, the PNMC has experienced several obstacles related to its governance, such as coordination, planning and implementation issues. All of these issues pose threats to the effectiveness of GHG mitigation actions in the country. By looking at the intragovernmental and intergovernmental relationships that have taken place during the lifetime of the PNMC and its sectoral plans on agriculture (the Sectoral Plan for Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change for the Consolidation of a Low-Carbon Economy in Agriculture [ABC Plan]), transport and urban mobility (the Sectoral Plan for Transportation and Urban Mobility for Mitigation and Adaption of Climate Change [PSTM]), this exploratory qualitative research investigates the Brazilian climate change governance guided by the following relevant questions: how are climate policy arrangements organised and coordinated among governmental actors to mitigate GHG emissions in Brazil? What might be the reasons behind how such arrangements are established? What are the predominant governance gaps of the different GHG mitigation actions examined? Why do these governance gaps occur? Theoretically grounded in the literature on multilevel governance and coordination of public policies, this study employs a novel analytical framework that aims to identify and discuss the occurrence of four types of governance gaps (i.e. politics, institutions and processes, resources and information) in the three GHG mitigation actions (cases) examined (i.e. the PNMC, ABC Plan and PSTM). The research results are twofold. First, they reveal that Brazil has struggled to organise and coordinate governmental actors from different policy constituencies and different levels of government in the implementation of the GHG mitigation actions examined. Moreover, climate policymaking has mostly been influenced by the Ministry of Environment (MMA) overlooking the multilevel and cross-sectoral approaches required for a country's climate policy to mitigate and adapt to climate change, especially if it is considered an economy-wide Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), as the Brazilian one is. Second, the study identifies a greater manifestation of gaps in politics (e.g. lack of political will in supporting climate action), institutions and processes (e.g. failures in the design of institutions and policy instruments, coordination and monitoring flaws, and difficulties in building climate federalism) in all cases studied. It also identifies that there have been important advances in the production of data and information for decision-making and, to a lesser extent, in the allocation of technical and financial resources in the cases studied; however, it is necessary to highlight the limitation of these improvements due to turf wars, a low willingness to share information among federal government players, a reduced volume of financial resources and an unequal distribution of capacities among the federal ministries and among the three levels of government. A relevant finding is that these gaps tend to be explained by a combination of general and sectoral set aspects. Regarding the general aspects, which are common to all cases examined, the following can be mentioned: i) unbalanced policy capabilities existing among the different levels of government, ii) a limited (bureaucratic) practice to produce a positive coordination mode within cross-sectoral policies, iii) the socioeconomic inequalities that affect the way different governments and economic sectors perceive the climate issue (selective perception) and iv) the reduced dialogue between national and subnational governments on the climate agenda (poor climate federalism). The following sectoral aspects can be mentioned: i) the presence of path dependencies that make the adoption of transformative actions harder and ii) the absence of perceived co-benefits that the climate agenda can bring to each economic sector (e.g. reputational gains, climate protection and access to climate financial markets). By addressing the theoretical and practical implications of the results, this research provides key insights to tackle the governance gaps identified and to help Brazil pave the way to achieving its NDCs and net-zero targets. At the theoretical level, this research and the current country's GHG emissions profile suggest that the Brazilian climate policy is embedded in a cross-sectoral and multilevel arena, which requires the effective involvement of different levels of political and bureaucratic powers and the consideration of the country's socioeconomic differences. Thus, the research argues that future improvements of the Brazilian climate policy and its governance setting must frame climate policy as an economic development agenda, the ramifications of which go beyond the environmental sector. An initial consequence of this new perspective may be a shift in the political and technical leadership from the MMA to the institutions of the centre of government (Executive Office of the President of Brazil) and those in charge of the country's economic policy (Ministry of Economy). This change could provide greater capacity for coordination, integration and enforcement as well as for addressing certain expected gaps (e.g. financial and technical resources). It could also lead to greater political prioritisation of the agenda at the highest levels of government. Moreover, this shift of the institutional locus could contribute to greater harmonisation between domestic development priorities and international climate politics. Finally, the research also suggests that this approach would reduce bureaucratic elitism currently in place due to climate policy being managed by Brazilian governmental institutions, which is still a theme of a few ministries and a reason for the occurrence of turf wars.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Baumgart2024,
  author    = {Baumgart, Lene},
  title     = {Die Ambivalenz der Digitalisierung},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-63040},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-630401},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {137},
  year      = {2024},
  abstract  = {Ausgehend von der Beobachtung, dass die aktuelle Digitalisierungsforschung die Ambivalenz der Digitalisierung zwar erkennt, aber nicht zum Gegenstand ihrer Analysen macht, fokussiert die vorliegende kumulative Dissertation auf die ambivalente Dichotomie aus Potenzialen und Problemen, die mit digitalen Transformationen von Organisationen einhergeht. Entlang von sechs Publikationen wird mit einem systemtheoretischen Blick auf Organisationen die spannungsvolle Dichotomie hinsichtlich dreier ambivalenter Verh{\"a}ltnisse aufgezeigt: Erstens wird in Bezug auf das Verh{\"a}ltnis von Digitalisierung und Postb{\"u}rokratie deutlich, dass digitale Transformationen das Potenzial aufweisen, postb{\"u}rokratische Arbeitsweisen zu erleichtern. Parallel ergibt sich das Problem, dass auf Konsens basierende postb{\"u}rokratische Strukturen Digitalisierungsinitiativen erschweren, da diese auf eine Vielzahl von Entscheidungen angewiesen sind. Zweitens zeigt sich mit Blick auf das ambivalente Verh{\"a}ltnis von Digitalisierung und Vernetzung, dass einerseits organisationsweite Kooperation erm{\"o}glicht wird, w{\"a}hrend sich andererseits die Gefahr digitaler Widerspruchskommunikation auftut. Beim dritten Verh{\"a}ltnis zwischen Digitalisierung und Gender deutet sich das mit neuen digitalen Technologien einhergehende Potenzial f{\"u}r Gender Inklusion an, w{\"a}hrend zugleich das Problem einprogrammierter Gender Biases auftritt, die Diskriminierungen oftmals versch{\"a}rfen. Durch die Gegen{\"u}berstellung der Potenziale und Probleme wird nicht nur die Ambivalenz organisationaler Digitalisierung analysierbar und verst{\"a}ndlich, es stellt sich auch heraus, dass mit digitalen Transformationen einen doppelte Formalisierung einhergeht: Organisationen werden nicht nur mit den f{\"u}r Reformen {\"u}blichen Anpassungen der formalen Strukturen konfrontiert, sondern m{\"u}ssen zus{\"a}tzlich formale Entscheidungen zu Technikeinf{\"u}hrung und -beibehaltung treffen sowie formale L{\"o}sungen etablieren, um auf unvorhergesehene Potenziale und Probleme reagieren. Das Ziel der Dissertation ist es, eine analytisch generalisierte Heuristik an die Hand zu geben, mit deren Hilfe die Errungenschaften und Chancen digitaler Transformationen identifiziert werden k{\"o}nnen, w{\"a}hrend sich parallel ihr Verh{\"a}ltnis zu den gleichzeitig entstehenden Herausforderungen und Folgeproblemen erkl{\"a}ren l{\"a}sst.},
  language  = {de}
}