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European universities are being shaken by two revolutions. One is a radical change in the way research is funded, the other is the increased emphasis on the teaching role of the universities. This interview study examines what effects these radical institutional changes have had on academic freedom. Based on a small number of in-depth interviews with Swedish researchers in various disciplines, different posts, active either at an ancient or a new university, the study explores the concept and content of academic freedom, the current prospects for its survival and the effect of changes in funding on the content of research and research process as such. The results suggest that the institutional changes, not least in the way the funding system is organised, are having a determinate impact on the behaviour of academics, while academic freedom as a norm still thrives in the research community as a whole.

Estonia's cultural transitions in the 1990s and the two layers of political cultural legacies that are crucial in preparing Estonia for the democratic government after independence are presented.

The study by Ceci et al. shows that academic behavior associated with the core principles of intellectual freedom is more shaped by institutional incentives than by organizational culture. From an organizational theoretical point of view, this is quite an unexpected finding, not least because we do believe universities to be fairly strong and explicit cultures that should be successful in socialization.

By GERARD ALEXANDER. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2002. Pp.xii + 289, 5 figs., 13 tables, index. 25.95 [pounds sterling] (cloth) ISBN 0-8014-3947-7. This book confronts the reader with [...]