This article explores how foreign funders may promote good governance in a country without a history of established democratic processes. It examines the travel of ideas of democracy and human rights from Sweden to Russia through transnational cooperation projects during the period 1991–2005. Considering these projects as forms of high-stakes translations, the study finds that many of them engaged with Russian society only on a superficial level without embedding ideas in local organizational practices. Identifying the weaknesses often found in such translations, the study points to the difficulty of contributing to a democratic transformation of Russia by means of foreign-funded projects lacking contextual anchorage.

Lyssna på experterna” är ett ofta upprepat mantra, men vad detta innebär är inte alltid självklart. Covid-19-pandemin synliggjorde svårigheterna i att få tag i och tillämpa expertkunskaper. Pandemins första skede präglades av stor efterfrågan på information. Många sökte sig då till sociala medier, där tidigare okända individer snabbt blev betrodda med att ge råd – de virala experterna.

I denna rapport analyserar vi 272 Facebookinlägg, författade av 136 individer, som delades flitigt under våren 2020. Vi kartlägger inläggens egenskaper och författarnas bakgrund, men också vilken legitimitetsbas, dvs. svaret på frågan ”varför ska ni lyssna på mig?”, som författarna åberopat.

De virala experterna har vitt skilda bakgrunder, men deras inlägg visar alla tecken på anpassning till en ny social medielogik, där budskap får mer legitimitet om de använder känslomässigt och förenklande språk, bildmaterial och hashtaggar. Personlig erfarenhet eller bara stor tilltro till det egna omdömet är också mer förekommande legitimitetsbaser på sociala medier, jämfört med den teoretiska expertkunskap som brukar underbygga expertuttalanden i etablerade medier.

Viral expertis kan vara en demokratisk tillgång: oväntade aktörer kan engagera sig i det offentliga samtalet och gör att nya röster blir hörda. Traditionella experter kan, genom att anpassa budskap till den sociala medielogiken, också nå ut med viktiga budskap till publiker som annars inte skulle lyssnat. På så sätt kan man stärka forskningskommunikationens genomslag. Men viral expertis kan också utgöra en fara för demokratin. När gängse mekanismer för att värdera experters legitimitet sätts ur spel, riskerar förvirring uppstå och komplicera spridningen av korrekt information, särskilt i krisers initiala skeden där osäkerheten är stor.

In this paper, we explore the assumption that blame-attribution can be an effective rhetorical strategy for non-elite interest groups who want power holders to be attentive to their demands. Through a qualitative analysis of two pro-migrant campaigns led by grassroot activists in Sweden, one taking place in 2005 and the other in 2017, we offer a nuanced empirical examination of non-elite initiated blame-games. We show how perceived responsibility influences these blame-games, and explore which policy consequences might emanate from them. We demonstrate that blame-making, under certain conditions, can be a successful strategy to gain policy influence, but that this strategy is conditioned by the complexity and transparency of the institutional arrangements of accountability within the policy sector. The focus on non-elite blame-making in order to change policies enables us to contribute to the theoretical discussion on the relationship between anticipatory and reactive forms of blame-avoidance behaviours, and to discuss the democratic implications of blame-games in both shorter and longer time perspectives. One implication of this study is that successful non-elite blame-making at one point in time actually can lower the chances of successful blame-making in the future.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of inscriptions on social media in enabling action at a distance. The purpose is addressed by investigating how and by what mechanisms inscriptions on social media can shape action at a distance.

Design/methodology/approach: We conduct a qualitative analysis of the Facebook page of a crowdfunded grassroots initiative, where the founders and their stakeholders interact.

Findings: We identify two mechanisms by which inscriptions on social media can shape action at a distance: a flow of micro-level inscriptions and a joint stabilisation of inscriptions. By signalling achievement, creating a sense of closeness and highlighting powerful explanations, these mechanisms guide what action at a distance is taken and by whom. Action thereby becomes a mutual exercise between centres of calculation and distant peripheries, highly intertwined with the stability of inscriptions. The two mechanisms indicate the importance of the boundaryless nature of the inscriptions in shaping action at a distance.

Originality/value: Our findings indicate new forms of inscriptions and, consequently, of novel conditions for action at a distance. These insights add to the literature on Web 2.0 and accounting, which has mainly revolved around the relationship between centres of calculation and distant peripheries that act upon each other rather than around the inscriptions that enable such action.