@phdthesis{Buender, author = {B{\"u}nder, Tobias}, title = {The Pharmaceutical Industry and Access to Health Products. Interrogating the Role of Multinational Companies in Tackling Global Development Challenges}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4474}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-44746}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {132}, abstract = {Society increasingly calls on business, in particular multinational companies, to contribute to solving global challenges such as poverty, hunger, or the recent pandemic. Many companies and industries have responded positively to these expectations and use a broad set of efforts to work toward objectives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, research has frequently pointed out that that there is limited evidence for multinational companies being effective to this end, as they have to overcome many internal and external hurdles in tackling such development challenges. Thus, uncertainty remains with regard to how multinational companies can become instrumental in addressing the persistent and global problems we associate with sustainable development. This cumulative dissertation explores this question by studying how the multinational pharmaceutical industry has acted upon the challenge of insufficient access to medicines, vaccines, and other health products in low- and middle-income countries. By analyzing how two companies have tried to integrate access objectives into their business, the first empirical paper brings to surface two types of integration efforts that differently enable companies to make progress on the access challenge. It also highlights the strategizing needed for each type of integration to overcome internal and external challenges. The remaining two papers look at the pharmaceutical industry's contributions to the Kenyan response to non-communicable diseases as a case of the growing scale and scope of involvement of multinational companies on the local level. One paper shows that local development actors perceive this as a challenging and risky phenomenon and lays out why and how they engage with companies as development agents regardless. By studying the Kenyan case, the final piece looks more closely at how governance structures may help to ensure that industry-led public health initiatives contribute to development objectives. Together, these papers contribute to management research by showcasing different pathways through which companies can become instrumental in making progress on development challenges: an internal pathway of integrating social objectives into the business as well as an external pathway of steering corporate initiatives through local actors and governance structures. Finally, it also informs debates in global health research by adding often neglected firm- and country-level perspectives on the growing role of business in global health.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Ruhnau, author = {Ruhnau, Oliver}, title = {The Economics of Flexible Electricity Demand}, school = {Hertie School}, abstract = {In electricity systems, supply traditionally follows demand. Consequently, economists have focused on analyzing supply while assuming perfectly inelastic demand. Demand flexibility, if at all, occurred in deterministic patterns, such as during peak and off-peak periods, incentivized by static time-of-use tariffs. Nowadays, the role of electricity demand is changing fundamentally: growing shares of fluctuating wind and solar energy require flexibility in a larger quantity and on a stochastic basis; increasing loads of electric vehicles, heat pumps, and hydrogen electrolyzers could provide flexibility through battery, thermal, and gas storage; and the introduction of smart meters enables dynamic real-time tariffs and an automated response of distributed loads. This cumulative dissertation contributes to the economic understanding of flexible electricity demand with five scientific articles. Article 1 starts with reviewing the role of electrification in decarbonization scenarios for heating and road transport in Germany. The article finds that decarbonization drives electrification, leading to an increase in electricity demand by a factor of roughly two. Direct and indirect electrification options are contrasted with respect to their distinct flexibility potential. Articles 2 and 3 explore the implications of decentralized electric heat pumps and centralized electrolytic hydrogen, respectively, for the market value of renewables. Both use the same numerical electricity market model. Article 2 finds that the volatility of the heat pump's electricity demand challenges the electricity system, which becomes apparent in increasing load cost. A flexible operation of heat pumps may reduce this challenge, but potential benefits for the market value of wind energy are minor. By contrast, Article 3 shows that hydrogen electrolyzers have the potential to stabilize renewable market values at high renewable market shares effectively and permanently, because additional renewable supply can trigger investment in additional hydrogen electrolyzers with additional demand. Articles 4 and 5 investigate the flexibility of the current electricity demand using econometric models with instrumental variables. Article 4 reveals that, at an hourly temporal resolution, the aggregated electricity demand in Germany is indeed price-elastic; it decreases by 70 MW for every € 1 per MWh increase in the day-ahead wholesale price. Article 5 finds that demand is also price-responsive in the very short term: the demand for imbalance energy responds to the imbalance price—despite the legal obligation in Germany to minimize imbalances independent of prices.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Raiser, author = {Raiser, Kilian}, title = {Post-Paris: Understanding Pledge and Review and its Implications for International Cooperation on Climate Change}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4407}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-44070}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {224}, abstract = {This dissertation studies the mechanisms through which the Paris Agreement proposes to limit global greenhouse gas emissions, and the prospects for these mechanisms to succeed in doing so. In particular it focuses on the Paris Agreement's pledge and review structure, taking a cumulative approach comprising three distinct research papers studying the Agreement from different perspectives. In the first paper I systematically map the literature studying the Agreement and synthesize existing insights on whether or not it will be effective. I find mixed evidence. Potential drivers of effectiveness, such as the Agreement's transparency provisions, are often qualified by concrete barriers, with the information submitted thus far lacking in quality and comparability. Although the literature provides ample recommendations for overcoming such barriers, the success of the Agreement is found to ultimately depend on national ambition. As such, the Paris Agreement's most promising features are found to lie in its facilitation of norm-diffusion and learning. In the second paper I use systematic evidence synthesis methods to review existing literature studying five comparable review mechanisms in the human rights, trade, finance and labour regimes. I identify six common factors that influence the performance of these review mechanisms. Using these as benchmarks to assess the Paris Agreement's review mechanisms I find that the Agreement incorporates many of these features. However, two major shortcomings remain, namely the lack of an assessment of the adequacy of national climate policies, and a lack of capacities to effectively carry out the review process. Combined with existing political constraints, these shortcomings suggest that that the Paris Agreement alone is unlikely to be effective. In the third paper I develop a novel framework for assessing states' nationally determined contribution formulation process based on the state capacities and policy design literatures. I apply the framework to the cases of Brazil, South Africa, India and China. I find that these countries engage imperfectly with the pledge and review structure of the Paris Agreement. They lack systematic processes for formulating their nationally determined contributions, and their international pledges remain detached from domestic climate policy considerations.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Pavlova, author = {Pavlova, Marina}, title = {Authoritarian Regimes and Financial Crises: Explaining Autocratic Regime Survival and Collapse}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4392}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-43929}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {229}, abstract = {The common notion that financial crises pose serious threats to autocratic regime stability has been challenged over the last decades both on theoretical and empirical grounds by the extensive number of authoritarian regimes that seem to be absolutely impervious to financial and economic shocks. So, why do financial crises only sometimes lead to autocratic regime collapse? What mechanisms do (de)stabilize authoritarian regimes during financial crises? And under what conditions is autocratic regime breakdown likely to happen? This dissertation addresses these questions by bringing together insights from the democratization, comparative autocracy, and political economy strands of research. It argues that the relationship between financial crises and autocratic regime breakdown is highly conditional, and depends on a complex interplay of economic and political factors. In three standalone papers, this dissertation scrutinizes the entire process of crises induced autocratic regime instability and regime collapse, and examines the effects of different economic and political factors on the probability of autocratic regime survival and collapse during specific types of financial crises. The key findings of this dissertation demonstrate that the destabilizing effects of financial crises may vary by crisis type, that in response to financial crises, policymakers in autocracies can implement crisis policies that prolong authoritarian rule, and that institutions by which autocracies govern may immunize them from political risks during financial crises, or, by contrast, may precipitate elite defection and regime collapse. Overall, this dissertation provides many new theoretical and empirical insights into the sources of autocratic regime survival and breakdown during financial crises. It also provides one more evidence that economic and political problems do not exist in isolation from one another, rather they are linked together in complex networks of weirdly tangled cause-effects relationships, which we do not yet fully understand.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Deo, author = {Deo, Sahil}, title = {The Under-appreciated Regulatory Challenges posed by Algorithms in FinTech. Understanding interactions among users, firms, algorithm decision systems \& regulators}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4288}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-42887}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {299}, abstract = {The rise of automated decision-making systems has been extraordinary in the last few years, both in terms of scale and scope of operation. This is especially true in the field of fintech, where robo financial advisors have gained prominence with their claim to "democratise" finance, with their low operating costs, multi-tasking abilities and potential for mass adoption. This series of three research papers is focused on demystifying algorithmic explainability in the field of fintech, by diving deep into both theoretical and practical aspects of the phenomenon, and contextualising the discussion to India. The first paper explores the trade-off that emerges between performance and explainability for robo financial advisors, through a detailed review of available literature that allowed comparisons between relevant processes adopted around the world, and interviews with various stakeholders within India to understand the evolving domestic situation. The paper finds that it is not quite a question of if ADS will play a significant role in India's financial services sector but more a question of when that will happen. The second paper operationalises algorithmic explainability in the particular context of risk profiling done by robo financial advisory applications. Here, an approach towards developing a 'RegTech' tool is outlined, which can explain the robo advisor's decision-making, using machine learning models to recognise and reconstruct different levels of explanations. Finally, the third paper evaluates the effectiveness of user-centric explanations in conveying the decision-making logic of complex algorithmic systems in fintech. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of such explanations from the perspectives of both novice and seasoned investors, and goes on to differentiate between white- and black-box explanations. In sum, this three-paper series, using a range of tools and approaches, examines in detail the under-appreciated regulatory and operational challenges that emerge during the use of algorithms in the field of fintech, and explores ways to resolve them. While the first paper looks at the present and future of AI in Indian fintech, the second paper develops a tool to explain a robo advisor's decisionmaking, and the third finds factors that determine users' comprehension and confidence in such systems. The results of these three approaches in the three papers become vital when seen in the context of the rapid rise of artificial intelligence across products, services and industries globally. If humans are to work alongside machines in this changing world, explainability becomes an important aspect to consider for companies, regulators and users alike, in order for humans to trust the algorithmic systems in place and improve outcomes — in this case, financial outcomes — for all.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Nagel, author = {Nagel, Jan}, title = {At the table or on the menu? Impact of eurozone membership on negotiations in the Council of the European Union}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4207}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-42077}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {144}, abstract = {In 1999, a group of member states of the European Union launched a common currency, the euro. The political weight and institutional set-up of this group have prompted fears that eurozone members might dominate non-members. This thesis studies political dynamics between members and non-members of the eurozone. Specifically, it explores to what extent eurozone membership explains negotiation performance in the Council of the European Union - the core arena for negotiations among member states. To this end, the thesis uses an original dataset of 303 negotiations conducted under the co-decision procedure between 1999 and 2016. The thesis makes a two-fold theoretical argument. First, it is argued that eurozone members have an incentive to build "minimum winning coalitions" under exclusion of non-members, as this increases their gains in Council negotiations. Secondly, this process is enabled by the institutional setup of exclusive eurozone-only bodies, most importantly the Eurogroup. On this basis, it is hypothesized that eurozone members should have a higher probability of inclusion in a winning coalition in the Council (H1), especially in the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council (H2), but perhaps also in other Council configurations (H3). It is furthermore hypothesized that inclusion of eurozone members in winning coalitions increased during the euro crisis (H4). Contrary to theoretical expectations, the analysis yields four null findings. Eurozone members were not more likely to be included in winning coalitions, independently if a proposal was negotiated in the ECOFIN Council or other Council configurations, and regardless if negotiations took place during the euro crisis. The thesis provides a possible explanation for this puzzling finding. An analysis of coalition patterns reveals that eurozone members were too divided to exercise their collective influence in the Council. Rather than acting as a cohesive bloc, eurozone states were split internally along traditional cleavages structuring conflict in the Council.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Flonk, author = {Flonk, Dani{\"e}lle}, title = {Content control contestations: How and why internet governance norms emerge and develop}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4203}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-42030}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {147}, abstract = {In the early days of the internet, it was often assumed that the internet would develop into a free and open technology. However, governments have proven to be able to govern the internet, control its content, and develop international content control norms. This dissertation looks at content control from an international norms perspective and asks: How and why do international content control norms emerge and develop? I adopt an analytical eclecticist approach that combines elements from comparative politics and international relations. There are three aspects to this eclectic theory of content control. First, states subscribe to content control norms, which can range from liberal to illiberal norms. States cooperate in the area of content control and promote content control norms. Second, states support content control norms to a different extent because of the democratic or authoritarian values they subscribe to and their internal decision-making procedures, which can lead to conflict. Third, regional and international organizations affect the norm promotion strategies of states. I use both qualitative methods (case studies, content analysis) and quantitative methods (negative binomial hurdle model) to answer the research question. In order to answer the how part of the research question, I analyze two aspects of content control norm development. First, I assess the broader conflicts over norms and institutions in internet governance. I show that these conflicts are dependent on the identities of the actors involved. Second, I analyze the strategies that autocratic states use to push for specific content control norms. I show that institutional structures create opportunities and constraints to their norm promotion strategies. In order to answer the why part of the research question, I zoom in even further by comparing content control practices between democratic and authoritarian regimes. I show that democracies also control content, but mainly security-related content. Hence, content control practices are dependent on the regime type identity of actors and the type of content targeted. This dissertation shows that existing global internet governance models are contested and countermodels are emerging. These developments point towards the beginning of the end of the open and liberal internet order as we know it.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Palaric, author = {Palaric, Enora}, title = {From symbolic politics to policy learning? A comparative case study of policy changes in the context of impact assessment in France, Germany and Italy}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4200}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-42006}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {211}, abstract = {This thesis examines the causal process that led to policy change in the field of impact assessment (IA) in France, Germany and Italy since the mid-2000s. I seek to understand whether changes to the goals and/or ends of IA may be explained by symbolic politics or by a domestic learning process. Additionally, I aim to find out how and under which conditions policy learning results in policy change, and how the policy process affects the type of policy change that is adopted. Based on the policy diffusion literature, the policy learning framework and the Multiple Streams Framework, I operationalise three different causal mechanisms: symbolic politics, problem-oriented learning and power-oriented learning. Using document analysis and expert interviews, I trace the causal process that resulted in nine selected cases of policy change. I find that in most cases policy changes resulted from a domestic learning process, whereby domestic entities defined policy problems and/or goals, acquired and diffused knowledge, and adopted measures to implement and enforce the policy change. This shows that France, Germany and Italy have gone beyond the symbolic phase in the implementation of IA. In Germany and Italy, recent policy changes may be explained by problem-oriented learning. Domestic entrepreneurs identified problems in the implementation of IA and aimed at improving the performance of the instrument. In these two countries stable organisations with a mandate to evaluate IA were the main policy entrepreneurs. They facilitated the acquisition of knowledge on IA, acted as learning fora, and largely contributed to disseminating knowledge and setting the policy agenda. With respect to how and under which conditions policy lessons may be translated into policy change, findings show that this depends on the ability of policy entrepreneurs to use windows of opportunities such as changes of government to translate the acquired knowledge into policy change. I find that because the type of causal mechanism affects who learns and what is learnt, problem-oriented learning tends to result in incremental change of the means of IA, while power-oriented learning is more conducive to redefining the ends of IA.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hackmack, author = {Hackmack, Sinaida}, title = {Urban Governance Processes in the Making: The Unfolding of Cycling Policies in London and Berlin}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4179}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-41792}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {202}, abstract = {With the growing variety of stakeholders involved and different interests that need to be reconciled, policymaking in the city can be sometimes slow or even run into deadlock. This dissertation addresses this complexity of urban governance with a process view. It strives to investigate how complex urban governance processes unfold and what might enable or impede joint action throughout. Accordingly, it surveys the field of urban transport, which provides a prime example of the struggle of cities to move complex policies forward. This becomes particularly apparent in the redesign of urban streets, which requires careful retrofitting of existing infrastructures and an alignment of previous plans with new political priorities. This struggle has recently been reignited by the renaissance of the bicycle in cities and the related rollout of new cycling infrastructure. The promotion of cycling has moved up the urban political agenda almost universally and become a cross-sectoral priority of transport, public health, and environmental policies. Yet, the creation of space for the safety of cyclists, for instance in the form of separate cycle lanes, has initiated fierce debates with strong supporters and opponents in nearly all major cities. This dissertation explores how, in spite of this controversy, urban stakeholders move ambitious cycling programs forward based on the comparative analysis of cycling policies in London (2012-2016) and Berlin (2016-2021). With a methodological and theoretical approach rooted in network research, this dissertation explores the evolution of the actor-networks and the policy debate of these case studies over time. The analysis draws on a qualitative database that was created for this dissertation and consists of interview data and documents. The findings suggest that next to structural and cultural properties, stylistic features should be taken into account to fully comprehend how complex urban governance processes unfold and, thus, deserve a more prominent position in the urban governance field.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Thompson, author = {Thompson, Gil}, title = {Socialisation into European Professional and Political Communities. An Ethnographic Study of Seconded National Experts Deployed by EASO and Frontex to the Lesvos Migration Hotspot}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-4178}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-41785}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {162}, abstract = {The European Union (EU), though a treaty between states, is different from previous international organisations in the depth and breadth of its aims. Termed a supranational organisation, it seeks not only to work in the common interest of its 27 member states, but in the general interest of the Union. Scholars of EU studies have long debated the construction of this emergent political community, asking whether it would come to exist the manner needed to legitimise these newfound powers. A subset of these researchers has been particularly interested in European socialisation, a field that studies how time spent working in European institutions leads to effective cooperation and the creation of a common, imagined collective. Reviewing literature dating back to the 1970s, this dissertation finds consistent results showing that inductees' ages and countries of origin seem to matter consistently for their likelihood of undergoing European socialisation; however, few other results appear consistently and across studies. The theoretical contribution of this work is to argue that beliefs, rather than demographics should be studied. By looking at how novel organisational roles and norms cohere to those learned over time in national communities, the socialisation process can be better understood. Setting the study at the Lesvos migration hotspot, this study uses ethnographic research methods to understand the microprocesses of the socialisation process among Seconded National Experts (SNEs) deployed by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and the European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex) in support of Greek authorities. On the basis of intensive fieldwork, including formal interviews with 24 SNEs and participant observations, this research finds that beliefs regarding legitimate authority and what constitutes high-quality work, formed during their tenures in national professional communities, help explain the efficaciousness of the socialisation process on Lesvos. Moreover, the work finds that the European professional community built on the Greek island undergirds the formation of an inchoate political one. These results contribute to those early questions asked by scholars of European integration and contain practical lessons for mangers and trainers overseeing diverse European workforces, as well as for policymakers and civil society looking to instil best practices.}, language = {en} }