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Strategies for revitalizing marginalized neighborhoods often include participatory innovations. According to the participatory bias argument, however, participatory governance arrangements benefit the privileged rather than the poor. In the present article, the validity of this argument is examined by analyzing how individual resources and social positions relates to recruitment to, participation within, and outcomes derived from participation in a most-likely case of bias in participatory neighborhood governance. Although the privileged were overrepresented in recruitment, the pattern was less clear regarding influence within the processes, and quite the opposite regarding certain outcomes of participation. Also in a most-likely case for bias, participatory neighborhood governance may induce empowerment among poor. Based on the observation that participants that differ with regard to available resources and social positions also have different motives for participation, a mechanism-based account regarding why and how bias in early phases under certain conditions may produce empowering outcomes is proposed.

Current calls for deep societal transformation stress the need to go beyond green consumption and aim for the reduction of material consumption. Such a shift is enacted by grassroots initiatives around reuse, repair and sharing. However, the possibility of postconsumerist perspectives and practices to reach a broader audience is affected by discursive opportunity structures (DOS) formed in public debate. To understand the DOS it is relevant to pay attention both to the continuous normalisation of consumption and to the ways in which alternatives are represented. To develop new analytical tools for examining what postconsumerist initiatives are up against, we introduce the concept of banal consumerism: mundane, habitual expressions that reproduce consumer culture. Through an empirical study of Swedish daily newspapers, we construct the basis for a typology of different expressions of banal consumerism. We find several expressions, of which the massive advertising of consumer goods is the most common but editorial material also plays an important role. This largely disabling DOS is then put in relation to the potentially enabling opportunities entailed in the existing media coverage of postconsumerist initiatives, practices and perspectives. The results show that postconsumerist initiatives and practices are newsworthy and presented as commendable. The fact that high levels of material consumption negatively impact the environment and life on the planet is widely accepted. To argue for degrowth or criticise consumerism is, however, controversial. Thus, support for postconsumerist practices coexist with massive expressions of banal consumerism, creating a complex set of DOS for the postconsumerist initiatives to navigate.

Is oppositional behaviour in legislatures gendered? Despite a growing literature on gender and legislative behaviour, there is a conspicuous absence of research on differences between female and male members of parliament (MPs) when it comes to one of the key aspects of parliamentary debates: the voicing of opposition. This article connects the literature on gender and legislative behaviour with opposition scholarship. We examine the role of gender for oppositional behaviour in four legislatures with a focus on debates concerning European Union affairs. Our results show that female MPs generally are equally likely to express opposition as their male colleagues. This result, however, is conditioned by government status. Whilst there is no significant difference between the proportion of opposition expressed by female and male MPs from opposition parties, we find that male MPs representing government parties express more than twice as much opposition as their female colleagues.

This article proposes to focus on vulnerability in the operationalisation of securitisation theory. It argues that in empirical investigations we often fail to acknowledge that security acts may reflect weakness, not strength. Employing second-generation securitisation research, it first problematizes the common approach to securitisation. Namely, that the self-referential conceptualisation of security acts, together with the realist understanding of power, lead to interpretations of securitisation as a tool of unprincipled statecraft. Secondly, drawing on Brown’s work on border walling, the article reasons that securitisation is predicated on vulnerability. Vulnerability is a legitimising necessity of securitisation. One cannot designate a threat without tying it to vulnerability (real/imagined). Securitisations are essentially claims of vulnerability. Thirdly, utilising contextual and narrative analysis of two case studies, this paper illustrates how securitisations are coupled with vulnerability. The article formalizes a generative research avenue of securitisation. One that better accounts for the intersubjective aspects of security acts.

Regulatory intermediaries—organizations that operate between regulators (public and private) and target groups—perform a range of important functions. While most previous research has focused on intermediaries that have been delegated official authority, in this paper we focus on unofficial and informal intermediary functions aiming to advance the governance of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals. Chemical pollution is a growing environmental and health concern, leading to both public and private regulatory initiatives. By studying a particular segment—paperboard food packaging in Sweden—the study generates insights into critical functions performed by unofficial intermediaries (Svenskt Vatten and ChemSec) in this regulatory regime, which extend and expand regulatory reach in various ways. The study also shows the importance of different types of intermediaries that interact in dynamic ways, and the role of material artifacts in processes of intermediation. These unofficial functions are arguably important for the functioning of complex, hybrid forms of governance, but they also prompt critical questions about the effectiveness, legitimacy, and role of intermediaries in generating needed transformative change.

In recent decades, collaboration has become a common policy instrument in public administration, both internationally and in Sweden. Inspired by scholarly literature on collaborative governance, the aim of this study is to analyze the crucial role of public administration in the design and implementation of collaborative governance. Drawing on several years of research on Swedish forest policy and governance, our work is based on extensive empirical material, including 88 semi-structured interviews, observations, written comments from open public consultations and actors, enacted policy documents, open public hearings and a survey. Our results confirm that factors related to process design strongly affect the outputs and outcomes of collaboration in public administration. We assert that public officials should meticulously design and adapt the collaborative process during its initiation and progress, according to the policy problem and actors' incentives and motivations to participate. However, despite good intentions by public officials, the overarching priorities and contextual factors governing the policy area must be set by elected decision makers at an early stage to establish democratic accountability and high levels of policy legitimacy and acceptance. A major implication for public administration is that the increasing use of collaborative governance may be highly inefficient if it is difficult for participants to draft shared objectives and provide intended outputs because of low levels of trust, and different interpretations of knowledge and norms. Finally, in contentious policy areas, such as forest policy, political priorities must sometimes be set by elected decision makers rather than through collaborative processes.

Previous studies suggest that women are often perceived as less corrupt and more risk averse, possibly due to longstanding asymmetries in power and marginalization that reproduce certain gender stereotypes. However, much remains unclear regarding the origins of these perceptions. Why are some individuals and societies more prone to perceive women as less corrupt than men? We present the first cross-country examination of these questions utilizing data from the latest wave of the World Values Survey, covering a total of 49 countries. Our results suggest that both perceived riskiness of corruption and attitude toward gender equality, in addition to the overall level of gender inequality in society, matter in explaining a stronger belief in gender differences in corruptness. However, the positive association between a higher perceived riskiness and the perception that women are less corrupt is mostly limited to societies with high levels of corruption and gender inequality.

Mock elections are an increasingly popular form of active learning, adopted in many European countries and the United States. However, we have limited knowledge regarding the extent to which they enhance students’ civic competence. This article analyzes data from over 9,000 students aged 13-19 who participated in a 2022 mock election in Sweden. The goal is to determine the extent to which mock elections boost civic competence, with an emphasis on potential variations related to gender, ethnic background, and edu-cational stage. Results indicate that such participation positively influences students’ self-reported political knowledge and, to a lesser extent, their political interest, engagement, and efficacy. Yet, the impact varies among student demographics. For instance, foreign- born students reported greater effects than their Swedish-born coun-terparts. Female students displayed heightened political knowledge and interest compared to males, while male students demonstrated higher political engagement. Interestingly, mock elections seemed to enhance political knowledge more in primary school students than in secondary school ones. Conversely, they had a more pronounced impact on the political interests and engagement of secondary school students. The study concludes with suggestions for future research to employ more rigorous methods to assess the influence of mock elections on civic competencies.

CONTEXT Driven by strategic objectives such as regional development, increased domestic value added, improved labour conditions and reduced environmental impacts, a range of actors are pursuing innovation related to the Swedish wild berry value chain. OBJECTIVE Our objective is to analyse the structure, functions and directionality of the Swedish wild berry innovation system and draw implications for ongoing efforts to develop the value chain. METHODS Our study is based on 18 semi-structured interviews, participant observations and a range of secondary sources. We use an analytical framework based on the agricultural innovation systems approach and pay specific attention to reflexivity, directionality and non-human materiality. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION The Swedish wild berry innovation system is fragmented as incumbent berry companies are absent from efforts to develop and reconfigure the value chain. The fragmentation is a result of the partly conflicting objectives among actors in the innovation system. There is a need for broader governance networks to navigate trade-offs and enable the commercialisation of new solutions. Successful innovation likely hinges on institutional change, particularly when it comes to efforts to improve labour conditions for migrant workers. SIGNIFICANCE Our study contributes empirically to research on non-timber forest product value chains and offers insights for actors pursuing innovation related to Swedish wild berries. We contribute to theoretical development in the agricultural innovation systems literature by incorporating attention reflexivity, directionality and non-human materiality., The research presented in this paper was conducted within the national centre FINEST – Food Innovation for Sustainable System Transition. The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas) (Grant no. 2020-02839region)

Climate institutions such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with its expert panel the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the European Union, as well as national and local authorities in various sectors (such as transport, industry, energy, and agriculture), play a central role in developing and enacting climate strategies. Climate institutions, particularly in the Global North, have however been slow in their recognition of gender and other climate-relevant social aspects. With the help of feminist institutionalism, we analyze the contemporary climate regime and how it deals with gender and social differences, asking how climate institutions, originating in the Global North, organize bodies and institutionalize gender norms and relations. The main aim is to highlight existing institutional inertia and obstacles to transformative institutional practices that are needed for just and inclusive climate policies. The article is conceptual with examples drawn from institutional literature as well as empirical research on the United Nations, the European Union, and states in the Global North. We conclude that there is an increasing recognition of the gendered effects of climate change particularly in terms of the need for diverse representation in decision making. Institutional inertia, in particular path-dependent policy-making in climate institutions, however makes gender often invisible or associated with women only and therefore remains a major obstacle for the realization of inclusive and equal climate policies.

National policies used to advance gender equality in academic careers in higher education in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, are examined based on publicly available documents from 1990 to 2023. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from public policy research and feminist political theory, we investigate to what extent policies are likely to lead to organizational transformation, in line with the intentions of gender mainstreaming. The analysis maps the policy instruments according to their behavioral assumptions, as well as the type of gender equality strategy they entail. The analysis suggests that policies aiming at organizational transformation typically are associated with weak policy instruments where it is up to the individual institution to decide how to implement them. This makes policy instruments particularly sensitive to contestations over the prioritization of goals and power relations in the organization. The analysis suggests that gender mainstreaming policies lack sufficient constraint and/or accountability to lead consistently to organizational transformation., NordForsk’s Centre of Excellence under Grant [80713]

Unprecedented numbers of unaccompanied minors entering Sweden in 2015, alongside other challenging social issues, have contributed to renegotiating collaborative forms of local governance in the country. This has resulted in an emergence of collaborative partnerships between civil society and public actors (Ideburna offentliga partnerskap or IOP), as real alternative to the market-based contracts and traditional state grants. This article addresses IOP from a collaborative governance perspective and questions if and how it may cope with a major and well known governance challenge, that of balancing the different roles and principles of public and civil society realms, so as to sustain an effective and legitimate cross-sectorial partnership. It asks, may and how an IOP enable civil society organisations a more active role in co-designing and co-implementing local welfare services with public sector actors without undermining their distinctiveness? The arguments are based on a case study of, at the time, the largest IOP in Sweden initiated for early reception of unaccompanied minors in Gothenburg city. The partnership is assessed against a normative theoretical framework of balanced state-third sector relations. The results suggest that IOPs, under certain conditions, may serve as 'spaces of hope' for more balanced power relations in local governance models.

This article contributes to an understanding of the backlash against liberalism by reconstructing the emergence and development of an increasingly influential strand of Anglo-American thought that challenges liberalism, known as postliberalism. The central diagnostic claim of postliberalism is that the two dominant forms of post-WW2 liberalism, market liberalism and social liberalism, instead of being somehow opposed, have coalesced around an all-encompassing sociopolitical project that above all else seeks to maximize individual autonomy. As a result, postliberals hold, the liberal order has become increasingly unable to cultivate the communal resources on which human sociability depends and erodes the values liberalism purportedly defends. The article argues that a central, albeit not necessarily insurmountable, challenge for postliberalism lies in moving from a critique of liberalism to proposed remedies for its perceived deficiencies, without slipping into a political project with clear illiberal rather than merely non-liberal implications.

Historical events often carry an air of uncertainty, like a fog that veils their boundaries. Questions arise about when the historical process leading to a coup d’état, or in the case examined in this book, an attempted coup, truly begins. How is it orchestrated? What delineates its scope? Who are the involved actors, and what fields of study and knowledge are essential for comprehending it? This book delves into the attempted coup that transpired on January 8, 2023, in Brasilia, Brazil, following the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro and the inauguration of his successor, President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. On that day, thousands of extremist Bolsonaro supporters invaded, sacked, and vandalized federal government buildings in Brasília with the aim of inciting a military coup against the Lula da Silva government and reinstating Jair Bolsonaro as the president of Brazil. The essays and artistic interventions in this collection aim to unravel the various dimensions of this pivotal event. They discuss the origins, occurrence, and aftermath of anti-democratic Bolsonarist mobilizations, with a specific focus on the communicative and symbolic aspects of this historical occurrence. From examining historical aspects to exploring aesthetic meanings, communication strategies, and the dynamics of a collective unconscious, “The Planalto Riots: Making and Unmaking a Failed Coup in Brazil” provides a critical perspective on the intricate process of how an attempted coup is both constructed and dismantled.

In the last two decades, the European Union (EU) has forged an international role as a ‘force for good’ and a champion for democracy, human rights, multilateralism, free trade, climate change action, and sustainable development. However, as the international context has grown more competitive and turbulent, it has become more challenging for the EU to uphold this global role. Subsequently, the EU has pursued more proactive policies to confront urgent challenges to the rules-based international system and global governance norms. This paper explores what the EU’s evolving geopolitical foreign policy role actually entails and how it is compatible with the Union’s understanding of itself as a global leader as expressed as a Normative Power, Market Power, and Security Power. Utilising the Indo-Pacific Strategy of 2021 and subsequent communications as illustrative examples, it examines how the EU is upscaling its plans and partnerships into a broader, sustainable connectivity strategy that fits into the context of a reoriented EU foreign policy and its leadership goals. In conclusion, it finds that the credibility of the three powers that the EU proclaims to play will be dependent on the coherence of the role set and the extent to which the EU can achieve these roles.

The Nordic states have long made distinct choices regarding foreign and security policy principles. However, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we are witnessing a convergence of the Nordic countries’ general patterns of cooperation within their security policies. We argue that the challenging international context has led to heightened threat perceptions, triggering a reformulation of their foreign policy roles. Based on this assumption the article aims to analyse the convergence of the Nordic countries’ foreign and security policies by tracing changes in their foreign policy roles following Russia’s increasing aggressiveness. We trace the changes in the Nordic countries’ foreign policy roles through three dimensions: the changes to the international order, threat perceptions and perceptions of reduced manoeuvrability in international affairs. Our empirical analysis sheds light on how all Nordic countries perceive an increasing threat to the multilateral rule-based order, which has consequences for the roles of these states, how the threat perceptions of the Nordic states have been on high alert since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and finally how this has significantly impacted the Nordic foreign policy elites’ perception of their countries’ ability to manoeuvre and conduct autonomous foreign policy, motivating radical changes in the roles.

This article focuses on foreign policy role change in small liberal states caused by a weakening rules-based order illustrated by the decisions of Finland and Sweden to apply for membership of NATO, thereby abandoning longstanding policies of military non-alignment. Although both countries sought alignment with NATO in the context of intense security threats in northern Europe, the domestic processes of foreign policy role change proceeded along different trajectories. In Finland, the domestic process of role change was characterized by strong elite and public consensus on membership of NATO, whereas in Sweden there was more hesitation regarding giving up military non-alignment and losing freedom of action. In this article, we address a gap in the literature on role theory and domestic role change by conceptualizing the dilemma of small liberal states being compelled to reassess national role conceptions in their domestic settings in the face of external challenges outside their control, without jeopardizing national autonomy and deep-seated social identities. To this end, we construct a model for national action strategies based on scope conditions of domestic role change, varying according to the level of congruence in national identity and the degree of domestic elite consensus concerning national foreign policy.

Researchers have shown how UN stabilization peace operations mix liberal and illiberal goals and strategies. Yet, further research is needed to theorize and comprehend illiberal peacebuilding features of stabilization operations. This article fills this gap by demonstrating how UN stabilization operations wield illiberal peacebuilding practices. Building upon previous scholarship, we understand illiberal peacebuilding both as an approach and outcome which is oriented by and helps diffuse illiberal norms in the societies where illiberal peacebuilding is instrumentalized by local, regional and international actors. We frame UN stabilization operations in the CAR, the DRC, and Mali as illiberal peacebuilding processes infused with illiberal strategies and show that liberal actors can engage with illiberal strategies for peace promotion. We also analyse peace agreements that accompany these missions as illiberal peacebuilding outcomes and show how these are shaped by illiberal norms. Our key finding is that a set of illiberal norms – exclusion, violence, power inequality and authoritarianism – are central for both UN stabilization operations and peace agreements signed in CAR, DRC and Mali. Therefore, we challenge the UN discourse that stabilization is a needed first step towards liberal and inclusive peace agreements.

The agricultural sector is one of the areas that has been highlighted as requiring a sustainability transition. For these kinds of transitions to succeed over the long-term, farmers need to be able to adapt to the required changes. Identifying which individual and institutional aspects are important for farmers' adaptive capacity and willingness to adapt is therefore an essential step in gaining insight into the role of farmers’ agency in transition processes and their long-term sustainability. So far, adaptive capacity literature has mainly focused on adaptive capacity in relation to climate change or individual innovations, thereby leaving a knowledge gap on adaptive capacity in relation to sustainability transitions. In this study, we aim to address this by deepening our understanding of these aspects through 24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with English farmers and organisations in the context of the post-Brexit agricultural transition. Whilst we found many similarities with previous adaptation literature in the context of climate change and individual innovation, we also found aspects that have not been prominent and thus seem to be specific for adaptation in relation to sustainability transitions. These include the dual role that access to finances and information can play; land ownership status in terms of having the right to implement adaptation measures; state of mind; feeling respected, appreciated, and understood; perceived level of control and ownership; and considerations of (global) consequences. Further research is needed to strengthen and further develop our findings, for example through case studies in other geographical locations or sectors.

The governance of Indigenous people is in many contexts a combination of political ambitions to promote self-governance, and more traditional policies and governance practices. These combinations often carry unintended contradictions and exclusionary processes. In this article, we investigate the consequences of one such contradiction: the aspiration for self-determination and self-governance on the one hand and the aspiration for broader political influence in decisions about resources to Sámi sport on the other. Since legitimation of governance structures and practices is essential for their overall functionality, we constructed the research question: What strategies are used to legitimise the policy and governance practices of Sámi sport? To explore this research question, we employed Sámi sport in Finland as an empirical case. Results show that authorisation as a legitimation strategy is prominent and used at institutional and individual levels. Moral evaluation as strategy is based on authoritative actors' personal choice. Inclusion and integration in mainstream policy is seen as a rational legitimation strategy, which is supported by narratives where smallness and uniqueness are dominant.

In research on public economics, climate politics and the welfare state, voters' informational and cognitive biases are commonly understood as impeding future-oriented policy-making, by incentivizing policymakers to trade off long-term investments against short-term consumption when facing competitive elections or liquidity constraints. Yet, the assumptions about how policymakers perceive these alleged trade-offs have not yet been verified. This study reports results from a survey of Swedish local government politicians, centring around experiments about environmental-friendly public investments. We find that most politicians perceive that electoral competition stimulates rather than impedes investments. Politicians are, however, less supportive of investments if these need to be financed through absolute losses rather than gains foregone, which illustrates the relevance of endowment effects in long-term governance. We furthermore show that our micro-level observations are consistent with macro-level investment expenditure patterns. These findings demonstrate that accounting for policymakers' own perceptions is important for advancing our understanding of future-oriented policy-making.

This article explores and analyses the activities of Swedish organised crisis volunteers during Covid-19. Based on a questionnaire and interviews, we set out to answer research questions on what characterised organised volunteerism during the pandemic, how organised volunteers experienced cooperation with local public actors and how they view political steering. We contribute to a growing literature on the role of volunteers and link that role to views on political steering, something that is rarely done in disaster research. Sweden is useful to explore because of how Covid-19 was managed; because there are organised crisis volunteers and a debate on how the Swedish system is steered. We show how organised volunteers adapted to changing needs and adopted new roles, that experiences of cooperation with local authorities varied and that calls were made for a stronger national leadership and for more explicit central political steering.

Where does Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s resilience derive from? Why did he, and the AKP, win the double May 2023 elections again? How did the opposition perform? What were the opposition’s mistakes? How will domestic and foreign policy issues unfold after the elections?These are just a few of the questions the present collection tries to answer. Demonstrating how Turkey’s politics have developed the present volume brings together approaches from politics, sociology, and history, and sheds much-needed light on these crucial questions. They offer scholars and non-specialists alike a comprehensive overview of the implications of the recent elections in almost every aspect of Turkish society. Finally, the chapters that are hosted here provide informed deliberations about Turkey’s future.

Drawing on a vast array of oral, ethnographic, and documentary material, Collins (Univ. of Minnesota), once a recipient of the Carnegie Scholar Award for innovative research in international security and a consultant to various international organizations, gives readers a stark reminder of the consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Collins’s intimate engagement with the Central Asian republics emerging since the 1990s informs this uniquely comprehensive study of the recent history of regional Islamic groups with broad political agendas. The men and women whom Collins interviewed became the primary agents of the disruptions throughout Central Asia and spilling into the Syrian war, making this massive work the most valuable resource for scholars and policy makers concerned with political Islam. The book’s underlying lesson of how state repression in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras has led to religious mobilizations is no doubt intended to sharpen analysis of the region as a primary strategic and security concern. It also serves notice about a new wave of persecution awaiting Muslims, who are confronted by the same conditions as the Central Asian Islamist movements, which have contributed to the Tajik and Afghan civil wars and the foreign fighters in Syria.

Faced with rising levels of cross-border migration, many countries have extended local voting rights to non-citizen residents. However, empirical evidence indicates that voter turnout among non-naturalized immigrants is lower when compared to citizens. This raises the question of how to explain this difference. A common answer is that the low turnout rates of non-citizen residents are primarily due to the socio-economic composition of this group and the challenges involved in adapting to a new political system. An alternative but less discussed possibility is that the low turnout concerns the nature of the elections. Hence, we examine whether the turnout of non-citizens is hampered because they are only allowed to partake in local elections. Based on a regression discontinuity design (RDD) using Swedish administrative data, we find that turnout could increase by 10-20 percentage points if the voting rights of non-citizens were extended to the national level.

Climate change, health pandemics, structural decline, and more - the challenges of solving political problems are daunting, particularly when the political institutions addressing them are not trusted. This article tests the economic theory that residents of high-income regions are more likely to trust political institutions, given their positive experiences with services and opportunities, against the rival argument that predicts a negative effect of regional disadvantage within a country on political trust. Using European Values Study and World Values Survey (2017-2020) data, combined with socioeconomic data for 606 regions in 42 countries, this paper analyses samples of regions both in and outside the EU. The results suggest that people living in wealthy EU regions - both in absolute and relative terms - trust national government more and the EU less. In the global sample, the evidence is more variegated and corroborates economic theory only in democracies. The article sketches implications for regional inequality, political trust, and legitimacy research.

Scholars tend to approach small states’ military strategies in terms of restraints and opportunities in the external security environment, largely overlooking the influences of a state’s domestic particularities. This thesis aims to explore how the theory of strategic culture, regarded here as an inherent, domestic context in which strategy is formulated, can add nuance to such realist analyses of how small states build and adjust their defence capabilities. Through a comparative case study design and a qualitative content analysis method, this thesis examines the adjustments in Denmark and Sweden’s military strategies following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the central similarities and distinctions between those. The influence of strategic culture on the respective states’ strategies is examined based on three foundational elements, dominant threat perception, approach to strategic partnerships, and geographical patterns and strategic exposure. The findings of this thesis demonstrate that the neorealist perspective of adjustments in small states’ military strategies can indeed be complemented with a view of the states’ unique strategic cultures, particularly with regard to the differences between the two empirical cases. Most notably, such a view allows for a deeper understanding of distinctions in the underlying rationales which guide the development, organisation and mission of the respective states’ Armed Forces.

The stand of liberal democracy as the most desirable form of governance has long been left unquestioned in the West. The rise of geopolitical, and national, security issues force the population in these states to consider the trade off between security and democracy. Research on which demographic factors affect populations’ attitudes towards limiting their democratic rights for the sake of security is scarce. The few studies of the Swedish population's relationship to their democracy that do exist, do not problematize the found relationship between gender and the will to limit democracy in cases of crises. This thesis tests what effects Swedes’ will to limit democracy for the sake of national security against two hypotheses. Right Wing Authoritarianism is used as the explanatory framework as to why women are more positive towards democracy limiting security measures than men. Utilising multiple regression analysis, the findings indicate that women to a larger extent than men are more positive towards democracy limiting security measures when controlling for other demographic factors and time. Therefore, this study concludes that gender-based structures in society affect womens’ relationship with the trade-off between security and democracy.

In the last decades, the EU has faced several crises. These crises have been seen to also have implications on the state of democracy in the EU. While many studies on crises and their effects on democracy have focused on the EU integration and on the weaker democratic states in the Union, little is known of how crises affect the quality of democracy in stronger democratic states. Further, there is a remaining research gap on how political opposition in EU affairs is affected during crises. This thesis focuses on Sweden, one of the stronger democratic states in the Union, during one of the most extensive crises the EU has faced – the Covid-19 pandemic. Focusing on the element of political opposition, it adds new empirical evidence to examine the patterns of parliamentary political opposition in the Swedish European Affairs Committee during the period of the Covid-19 crisis, compared to ‘politics as usual’ consisting of the period of 1995–2016. The results show that the share of statements containing opposition in general was smaller during the crisis, and that the patterns of political opposition developed differently during the Covid-19 pandemic depending on the type of the statement, as well as on party type. These results contribute to a broader understanding on how the state of democracy and the patterns of political opposition can develop in EU affairs in a strong democracy during crisis.

Political participation is a vital part of modern democracies which can be described as a way to convey the interests and the preferences of citizens and exert pressure on the government to align with the will of the citizens. For this sake it could be considered a democracy problem that citizens participate to varying extents, where people living in disadvantaged areas participate to a lesser extent compared to people in areas with a higher degree of resources. This study sets out to investigate the reasons behind this reality, using the components of the Civic Voluntarism Model as explanatory factors behind political participation within areas of different resource levels and comparing the finding between the areas to see which factors matter the most depending on the area. The research questions used are (1) Which effect do resources, motivation and recruiting network have on political participation in disadvantaged areas, and (2) Do the effects differ between disadvantaged areas and other areas? The questions will be answered using logistic regression on a data set from the 2021 SOM-survey in Gothenburg. The results show that the Civic Voluntarism Model has a higher degree of explanation in disadvantaged areas and that the factor showing the strongest degree of explanation is being a member of a local association, especially in disadvantaged areas. Some of the results are however contradictory to previous research, which gives rise to a discussion whether quantitative methods are appropriate for understanding participation – and the lack thereof – or if this needs to be further examined using qualitative methods. Keywords

This essay conducts a qualitative analysis of the integration and challenges of digital welfare technology in elderly care within Askersund and Orebro municipalities in Sweden. This study is timely and significant due to the rapid demographic shifts in Sweden, particularly the projected increase in the elderly population, emphasizing an urgent need for adaptive measures in the welfare sector. Central to this essay is the exploration of how these two municipalities navigate the complexities of integrating digital welfare technology into their elderly care services. The study uses Talbot's model to understand the dynamics of public and process interests in implementing such technology. This theoretical approach allows for an in depth examination of how each municipality, with their unique demographic, organizational and responds to the implementation challenges. Key aspects of this study include examining the readiness and response of elderly individuals to digital welfare technology, the challenges faced by healthcare personnel due to knowledge gaps, and the broader societal implications of these technological advancements. The essay also delves into the ethical considerations and the need for balance between technological efficiency and the quality of human-centered care. The findings highlight the diverse strategies employed by Askersund and Orebro and the challenges encountered in the process. The study contributes to a broader understanding of digital welfare technology in elderly care, emphasizing the importance of competency development, ethical deployment of technology, and the impact of regulatory and strategic guidelines from higher authorities.

This study aims to analyze the policy discourse held by interest groups in the United States following the repeal of Roe, the constitutional right to abortion, from a security perspective. Additionally, it seeks to examine what these organizations believe needs protection and against what, and the potential consequences for womenś health security in the USA. The study employs a security feminist and post-structuralist theoretical and methodological approach based on Bacchi’s (2023) problematization framework “What’s the problem represented to be?” (WPR) and Baldwin’s (1997) Security Concept to analyze how these interest groups perceive the abortion issue post-Roe and what this produces and reproduces. The analyst reveals a distinct and polarized view on the abortion issue regarding what should be protected and against what. These divergent perspectives influence how threats are perceived and what measures are advocated for. The study’s analysis also demonstrates that the politicized debate and the various problematizations may have adverse consequences for women’s health security, such as increased risks of unsafe abortions and lack of access to safe abortion care. Furthermore, the state-centric understanding of health policy may contribute to reproducing the stigma surrounding abortion and excluding women’s individual needs. This underscores the importance of questioning the prevailing health policy and its impact on women and other vulnerable groups, and raising the question: security for whom and for what?

This study is a qualitative case study about how the effects of New Public Management affect sign language interpreters and their industry. There is a shortage of sign language interpreters and many have left the profession. The purpose of the study is to highlight how the effects of New Public Management have affected the profession of sign language interpreters and why they choose to leave the profession. The first question concerns how sign language interpreters experience the effects of New Public Management and the purpose of the second question is to see if there is a connection between New Public Management's effects and why sign language interpreters leave the profession. A total of seven former sign language interpreters as interview respondents were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide that examines respondent character together with a thematic analysis approach so their experience and thoughts were in focus. The processed material resulted in sign language interpreters being affected by various systemic factors in the interpreting industry, including privatization of high competition in the profession and how the procurement system depresses their profession, as the lowest price is prioritized. Political shifts have also affected their working conditions and an organizational efficiency with a strong focus on the outcome, which leads to very few people being able to survive in the profession and is consequently a likely explanation to why sign language interpreters leave their profession.

The 21st century is likely to be shaped by the outcome of the Sino-American conflict. This thesis delves into the role of technology in shaping the economic growth and military prowess of states, with a specific focus on the Sino-American technological conflict. The study investigates four operational variables generated by the theory of economic nationalism: import/export restrictions, national innovation policies, talent acquisition policies, and trade diversification strategies to discern the strategies employed by China and the United States in their pursuit of technological dominance. Both nations actively align their policies with the principles of economic nationalism, recognizing the strategic significance of technological advancements in securing national interests. The findings show a congruency in the approaches adopted by China and the United States across the operational variables studied. The identified patterns contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the Sino-American technological conflict and highlight the broader applicability of the economic nationalism framework. The observed congruency with economic nationalism is not an isolated phenomenon but a broader trend applicable to other geopolitical contexts. Therefore, the theory serves as a valuable instrument for examining and comprehending conflicts, extending beyond technological conflicts to other contexts. This amplifies our capacity to investigate conflicts while simultaneously validating the significance of economic nationalism as a theoretical framework., 2024-01-12

This thesis explores how the Lacanian concept of ‘the enjoyment of the Other’ (la jouissance de l’Autre) can be applied to break open normative understandings of the political factors shaping the climate crisis deadlock. The principal aim is to investigate how ostensibly disconnected environmental debates may be regarded as linked by an economy of enjoyment, more precisely by the promise of enjoyment by which the subject is libidinally attached to an ideology. Analysis of text proceeds by way of a psychoanalytic critique of ideology on two case studies from UK news media, namely, i) the development of onshore wind turbines and, ii) the appearance of direct-action environmentalist groups, in particular the activities of the group Just Stop Oil. This thesis finds that rhetorical devices across the discourses analysed are sustained by an ideological belief that the subject’s enjoyment has been stolen or ruined by the Other, that is, the external symbolic framework of language, morals and other people that shapes and influences subjectivity. On the one hand it is argued that the mediatisation of the climate crisis in terms of the enjoyment of the Other, that is, the belief that the Other has access to a full enjoyment which the subject is denied, portrays environmental politics as an empty display or ‘spectacle.’ On the other hand, it is suggested that the experience of environmental politics as a spectacle is a symptom of the decline of the state’s symbolic role in late capitalism.

Despite global progress on gender equality, women continue to be underrepresented in politics. One widely debated policy measure aimed at tackling this issue is gendered public funding – which has been adopted in more than 30 countries worldwide yet remains understudied in the literature on gender and politics. In this thesis, I address that research gap and examine the broader impact of electoral, political, and cultural factors on gendered political funding by conducting quantitative cross-national analyses. I used data from four different sources, such as the International IDEA Political Finance Database, the IDEA Quota Database, QOG, and V-Dem, to examine the relationship between these factors and the probability of gendered public funding adoption. It is evident from the findings of this thesis that the presence of quotas has a significant influence on determining the likelihood of adopting gender-specific public funding policies, with countries implementing quotas demonstrating a higher likelihood of adopting such policies. Contrary to theoretical expectations concerning electoral and cultural variables and earlier research, no significant effects are found. The thesis offers valuable insights into the interplay between political trends, electoral institutions, cultural dynamics, and financial mechanisms in shaping gender equality initiatives. While gender quotas may enhance the probability of gender public funding, exploring all relevant contextual factors is critical.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the collaboration between the Swedish Public Em-ployment Service and the municipalities in southern Halland (Falkenberg, Halmstad, Hylte, Laholm) based on Huxham and Vangen's theory of the benefits of collaboration, "Theory Of Collaborative Advantage". The theory is suitable for studies of organizations and is based on the fact that there are different incentives or motives for starting a collaboration. The various motives give collaboration the prerequisite for success. In addition to the motives for collabo-ration, it is required that the partens who collaborate meet some of the criteria that Huxham and Vangen call the seven different perspectives. The authors believe that collaboration is difficult and very complex, but by analyzing which points work in collaboration, the chance of achieving the common goal is greater. By analyzing the collaboration between the Swedish Public Em-ployment Service and the municipalities in southern Halland with Huxham and Vangen's theory about the benefits of collaboration, it emerges that through local agreements there is a function-ing collaboration. On the other hand, it turns out that in the operational part of collaboration for those who are far from the labor market and receive financial assistance, there is still difficulty in making collaboration work optimally, and this is due to poor communication between the officials who work directly with decisions and planning for that group.

In the aftermath of a Russian influence operations against the U.S. presidential election of 2016 there was a change in governmental behavior. Since it was not known whether learning processes had caused these behavioral changes, the study aimed to examine the lessons learnedas well as their implementation. By using process tracing as a method, this essay established a causal link between the situation at hand and crisis induced learning by the U.S. Government.The characteristics of lessons were then examined more closely, and explained using the theory of crisis induced learning. It was concluded that the crisis induced lessons were mostly singleloop, as the crisis to a limited extent highlighted flaws in societal premises. They were mainlyaimed at improving crisis response, because focusing on the antagonistic reasons behind the crisis was less fruitful. They were predominantly inter-crisis, because uncertainty, timepressure and stress made intra-crisis learning difficult. Finally, most lessons were distilled (not implemented), due to a shift in the government’s priorities. In the end, not all behavioral changes could be linked to governmental lessons learned, which calls for further research.

In 2003 a proclamation of Zero Tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse was made by Secretary General of United Nations Kofi Annan. The policy have been around for 20 years and so has the scandals how come? To find out Bacchis (2009) What’s the problem represented to be? approach to policy analysis was chosen to find out what strategies was applied to manage zero tolerance. The identified strategies are a systemwide implementation of the principles of conduct, a victim centred approach including procedures for reporting, and finally an accountability framework. Identified silences are how to change an organisational culture of tolerance, how to restore confidence and how to manage mixed messages.

The objective of this study is to examine the explanatory capabilities of the international theories, constructivism and structural realism, both separately and complementary. The explanatory capabilities of the theories are examined in the context of explaining the driving forces of Russia's invasion of Ukraine February 24, 2022. This study employs a qualitative research design and a theory-testing method to examine the theories capabilities. This is accomplished by analyzing compiled empirical material from numerous sources. Constructivism posits that the international system is socially constructed and underscores the importance of social norms, shared perceptions and identity in shaping political behavior. Structural realism however, diverges from this perspective and instead highlights the importance of security and power in an anarchic international system. The study concludes that structural realism and constructivism complement each other in their explanatory powers of understanding the driving forces of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Structural realism is however by far the strongest of the theories in independently explaining the driving forces of the invasion.

Elections are a core democratic process in the world to ensure a peaceful transition of power between governing actors, yet it is too often the case that violence is employed to disturb the democratic process. Incumbents’ use of violence in order to maintain power and control over the procedure has become common as political violence and autocratisation has seen an upsurge in recent years. There is a lack of previous research in how electoral violence perpetrated by incumbents against the opposition affects democratisation. This thesis aims to fill the gap and analyse the proposed relationship. Based on previous theories on the topic I suggest that electoral violence by incumbents against the opposition negatively affects democratisation. Using a time span of 1974-2018 in a quantitative analysis the results support the hypothesis. This outcome is of relevance to the future literature of electoral violence as well as policy makers looking to understand how the consequences of electoral violence fits into the greater picture of democratic consolidation.

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute a nuanced understanding of Swedish perceptions regarding Chinese investments, particularly in technology and infrastructure. Despite the shift in perceptions from economic opportunities to security risks since 2017, there remains a gap in understanding the multifaceted nature of these perceptions. The research problem revolves around the contradiction between perceiving Chinese investments as security risks and their continued influx into sensitive sectors like technology and infrastructure. This study aims to investigate if there are nuanced perceptions and how they are constructed, aiming to fill this gap in understanding Swedish attitudes towards chinese investments. Employing the concept of "Sociotechnical Imaginaries" developed by Jasanoff and Kim (2009), grounded in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and political theory, the thesis utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to dissect empirical data. The analysis explores the evolution of Swedish perceptions regarding Chinese investments from 2017 to 2021, examining how national politicians frame these perceptions and whether they are reflected in the execution and development of technical and industrial projects. Through this approach, the study aims to provide insights into the complexity of Swedish attitudes towards Chinese investments, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of why these investments persist despite being perceived as security risks.

Offentliga tjänstemän företräder förvaltningarna/myndigheterna de arbetar på och har ett ansvar för att upprätthålla ett högt förtroende hos allmänheten. Sedan distansarbete ökat i de offentliga förvaltningarna/myndigheterna upplever en del chefer att det blir svårare att leda, att deras insyn i personalens prestationer minskat. Internationella undersökningar visar på att arbetsengagemang är relativt lågt i stora delar av världen. Underökningarna visar att anställda ägnar sig åt förhållningssätt som inte är förenliga med de värden som en offentlig tjänsteman förväntas ha. Lundquist (1998) har en teori om vårt offentliga etos, vilket innefattar värden en offentlig tjänsteman ska beakta i arbetet. I vår uppsatts kopplas Lundquist teori och själbestämmandeteorin–gällande inre och yttre motivation–ihop med den insamlade empirin. Syftet med studien är att få en större förståelse över vad som motiverar och engagerar offentliga tjänstemän i arbetet och hur det upplevs vid distansarbete. Vilka demokrati- och ekonomivärden offentliga tjänstemän upplever viktiga att beakta och hur det upplevs vid distansarbete. För att samla in empirin tillämpades en kvalitativ metod med nio semistrukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna genomfördes med offentliga tjänstemän på kommunal och statlig nivå. Resultatet visar på att Lundquist teori är något som präglar intervjupersonerna i deras dagliga arbete. Resultatet visar även att de intervjuade tjänstemännen drivs främst av en inre motivation men att yttre motivation förekommer i viss utsträckning. De intervjuade tjänstemännen uppfattas som motiverade och engagerade i sitt arbete och känner en plikt mot allmänheten att göra ett gott arbete. Det är viktigt för chefer att kontinuerligt överblicka personalens arbetsbelastning och möjliggöra för tillfredsställande arbetsuppgifter, för att upprätthålla anställdas motivation och engagemang. Att chefer har i åtanke att distansarbete verkligen uppfattas som en förmån hos de anställda, som de inte vill

Plan- och bygglagstiftningen i Sverige är utformad för att värna om kulturvärden i byggnader och byggnadsområden. Detta ställer högre krav på fastighetsägare till dessa byggnader, då de omges av fler regler än konventionella byggnader och byggnadsområden. En byggnad med höga värden får inte förvanskas, och ändringar av byggnader generellt ska utföras varsamt. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur rättstillämpningen av förvanskningsförbudet och varsamhetkravet i Plan- och bygglagen har sett ut historiskt, med fokus på ett avvikande rättsfall, MÖD 2019:25 för att undersöka dess eventuella prejudicerande verkan. Åtta rättsfall, som har behandlats i Mark- och Miljööverdomstolen mellan 2019-2024, har analyserats. Resultatet indikerar ett visst prejudikatvärde i MÖD 2019:25, tillsammans med ett förtydligande.

Denna uppsats har syftat till att undersöka tillitsdelegationens bakomliggande idéers överlevnad i den kommunala verksamheten. Genom en induktiv idéanalys av tillitsdelegationens fyra kommittédirektiv har de bakomliggande idéerna identifierats, för att verka som grund för de semistrukturerade intervjuerna i fallstudien av Tranemo kommun. Efter att identifierat VAD kvarstår frågan om HUR dessa har överlevt. Det är även via det som framkommit av den initiala idéanalys som Tranemo kommuns styrmodell har studerats för att identifiera om och i så fall vilka idéer som lever kvar i verksamheten efter det att tillitsdelegationen lagts ner 2020. Det framgår i resultatet att det går att återfinna idéer ifrån den induktiva idéanalysen, om än inte fullt ut och i vissa fall inte explicit. Idéer som rör bland annat styrningsidéal, uttryck för tillit till professionen och statens vägledning. Det som ser ut att vara de största överlevnadfaktorerna för dessa idéer är att de blivit institutionaliserade1 via institutionella entreprenörers arbete, delade värderingar och en agil verksamhet., This thesis aimed to investigate the survival of the underlying ideas of the ”Tillitsdelegationen”2 within municipal operations. Through an inductive ideational analysis of ”tillitsdelegationen´s” four government directives, the foundational ideas were identified to serve as the basis for the semi-structured interviews in the case study of Tranemo Municipality. Having identified WHAT remains, the question of HOW these ideas have persisted arises. It's also through the initial ideational analysis that Tranemo Municipality's governance model has been examined to ascertain whether, and if so, which ideas endure in the operations after ”tillitsdelegationen” was dissolved in 2020. The results indicate that ideas from the inductive ideational analysis are identifiable, albeit not entirely and, in some cases, not explicitly. Ideas in terms of organization, trust and governmental guidance. The primary factor contributing to the survival of these ideas seems to be their institutionalization through institutional entrepreneurs work, shared values, and an agile operation.