The role of ‘fair’ institutions in developing democratic legitimacy has received increased attention. Citizens who perceive – on basis of past experiences – that they are being treated fairly by authorities have been held to have greater trust in political institutions. However, previous studies on the relationship between procedural fairness and political trust have not paid sufficient attention to individuals with limited first-hand experiences of authorities. We examine the relationship on an authority that virtually all individuals meet early in life: the school. Using structural equation modeling on unique panel data covering 1500 Swedish adolescents (ages ranging from 13 to 17), we find a reciprocal relationship: personal encounters with school authorities shape young people’s political trust; however, the images that adolescents get of the political system (through family, peers, media and so on) have also consequences on their perceptions about the authorities they encounter in their daily lives. The analysis increases our understanding of how individuals form their political allegiances by showing that the relationship between fairness and trust is more dynamic than has previously been suggested: neither an accumulated set of experiences of authorities nor formal ties with political institutions (as voters and so on) are required for a relationship to emerge.
Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka strömningarna i diskursen kring hur den svenska staten bör organisera sitt anti-diskrimineringsarbete. Teoretiska utgångspunkter och använda teorier är makt, diskriminering, grupp, diskursteori, intersektionalitet och författarnas eget begrepp för att benämna motståndarna till intersektionalitet; särsektionalitet. Metoden bygger på den anglosaxiska diskursteorin genom en identifikation av tre teman byggda på teorierna. Uppsatsen tar avstamp i SOU 2006:22 En sammanhållen diskrimineringslagstiftning Slutbetänkande av Diskrimineringskommittén och låter sju huvudaktörer komma till tals. Genom dessa aktörer identifieras två huvuddiskurser; en delvis intersektionell diskurs som är för en sammanslagning och en särsektionell diskurs som är mot en sammanslagning. Uppsatsen slutsats är att förståelsen för intersektionalitet bland berörda aktörer är väldigt låg och att en sammanslagning av ombudsmännen i dagsläget därmed inte skulle uppfylla det intersektionella syftet flera aktörer verkar förespråka.
Finns det någon mening med att kalla sig "demokrat" i en samtid där praktiskt taget alla kallar sig demokrater? Kan ett begrepp som tycks kunna betyda både allt och inget fortfarande ha ett meningsfullt politiskt innehåll? I föreliggande bok åtar sig några av vår tids mest namnkunniga politiska teoretiker att besvara denna provokativa fråga. Svaren de presenterar formuleras utifrån skilda utgångspunkter och leder i flera fall till helt olika slutsatser. Samtidigt förenas de alla av ett gemensamt grundantagande: "demokrati" kan inte vara namnet på en redan förverkligad samhällsmodell eller en metod för att med jämna mellanrum utse politiska ledare. Tvärtom fortsätter demokratibegreppet att vara föremål för kamp och fungera som kärna åt politikens mest centrala frågor.
This article presents survey results on Swedish and Finnish parliamentarians' perceptions concerning their influence over domestic decision making in European Union (EU) matters. In the literature the parliaments in Sweden and Finland are classified as powerful ones that can exert considerable influence over domestic EU policy making. Moreover, Finland and Sweden joined the EU at the same time. Therefore the overall expectation is that the parliaments should be equally powerful. However, the results from this survey indicate a significant difference in perceived influence between the two parliaments. It is obvious that Swedish parliamentarians perceive themselves as more marginalised in relation to the government than Finnish parliamentarians. After trying different explanations, it is concluded that the differences can be ascribed to the parliaments' different organisational set-ups for government oversight.
In this article, we examine the occurrence of pre-electoral coalitions (PECs). Recent research points to when and why they are likely to occur, but these explanations are pitched at aggregate level, and they are less satisfying when applied to our particular cases. Rather than institutional or party-system features, we concentrate on the parties themselves – a level of analysis that raises theoretical and methodological challenges, which we discuss. Empirically, we investigate two cases of PEC in 2005–2006. One involved three Norwegian left-of-centre parties, the other involved four Swedish right-of-centre parties; both marked major departures from established behavioural patterns. We suggest certain conditions that may be necessary for a PEC to be formed. In particular, we argue that ‘decisive’ parties must prioritize office at the moment of decision, and that this preference order may be induced by some sort of environmental or intra-party stimulus.
This article examines the institutional arrangements between Social Democratic parties and trade unions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. First, the authors show how these relations have weakened at a varying pace. Party–union ties are now quite distant in Denmark, but remain relatively close in Norway and, especially, Sweden. Second, the authors explore this variation using a simple model of political exchange. The finding is that the intensity of the relationship is correlated with the resources that each side can derive from the other, which in turn reflects national differences. Yet it is also clear that the degree of change is related to the formative phase of the institutional arrangement itself: the weaker the ties were from the beginning, the more easily they unravel in response to environmental changes.
The aim of this paper is to describe which view the Chinese government in connection with the Olympics wants to display for the natural world and analyze if this view coincide with China’s foreign-policy goals. A qualitative content analysis is used. By using the theory of rational choice and a model with three different political approaches I want to examine whether or not the foreign-policy goals of the Chinese regime comport with the view that displays in two major newspapers in China. Since the runoff voting in Moscow in 2001 for the 2008 Olympics the Chinese government has been able to act rational and to compose different strategies to use the Games in Beijing for political propaganda. The analysis show that the governing in China make use of domestic media to put across their political message and some of the most important foreign-policy goals also occur in articles that handle the Olympic Games of 2008.
The objective of the thesis is to make a stakeholder evaluation of the regularization process that in 2005 gave the right to irregular immigrants in Spain to apply for a legal status. I want to portray how different groups at the labour market experienced the process and identify the factors that contributed to the result. I further want to study if regularization can be seen as an effectual measurement for managing irregular immigration. The methods are qualitative interviews and text analysis combined with evaluation method. The main theories are Venturini’s and Levinson’s suggestions for a successful regularization. Other prominent theories are Soysal’s theory about citizenship, Jordan’s and Düvell’s and Castles theories about irregular immigration. The result shows that the main argument for carrying out the process was to improve the situation at the labour market. The most prominent factors that affected the outcome were the social consensus preceding the process and the prerequisite of having a job contract. The regularization of irregular immigrants had an overall positive outcome but the stringent prerequisites for being regularized together with problems with sanctions of employers probably had a somewhat negative outcome on the result of the regularization.
The aim of this work is to define the party structure of Feministic Initiative (FI). We want to examine the structure of an organization that doesn’t start out with a hierarchical order. We further intend to examine the party’s leadership; whether or not it is equal, between the three spokespersons.We find it interesting as a topic from a democratic point of view as well as to see if a flat structure could work in practice. We use several theories among them Michel’s “iron law of oligarchy” and Holmberg’s and Söderlind’s theory on flat organizations. There is modest research on leadership in Swedish political science; we therefore consider it important to highlight. Shared leadership is interesting to examine, for it might be an alternative to the traditional order.We use a mixed-methodology based upon qualitative interviews and text analysis. We have interviewed the three spokespersons and examined materials like official weekly letters written by the spokespersons and the party’s constitution.The result shows that a flat structure is hard to carry out in practise and it appears that some form of hierarchical order appears in the party structure. Despite efforts towards equality the shared leadership is not totally equal.
Since the 1990s, the Swedish school system has become increasingly more diversified. Decentralization, the introduction of private schools, the challenge of globalization & increased ethnic diversity among pupils have contributed to an increasing heterogeneity. This project analyses the prospects for civic education in different institutional settings & contexts, in both public & private schools. Using unique survey data 1999 & 2009 we ask which effects different institutional settings have on "citizen competences," i.e., civic engagement, political efficacy, knowledge about democracy & political issues, & democratic values & tolerance. The project breaks down into three distinct but interrelated parts. The first deals with changes over time in young Swedes' civic competences. The second subproject focuses on the way & consequences when controversial issues are taught in different schools & institutional settings. The third sub-project adds a comparative perspective by analyzing similarities & differences among young people & schools in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland & England. Adapted from the source document.
Före Berlinmurens fall var DDR och dess ökända säkerhetstjänst Stasi en maktfaktor i Europa. Journalisten Christoph Andersson har grävt i arkiven och hittat uppgifter om dess svenska kopplingar.På 80-talet ville regeringen Palme exportera svensk kärnvapenteknologi till DDR. Ärendet var kontroversiellt, men den enda som började nysta i frågan var Rapportjournalisten Cats Falck. Hon upptäckte ett mystiskt östtyskt företag som skulle vara mellanhand. I november 1984 försvann hon spårlöst och hittades senare död.Lika mystiskt dog krigsmaterielinspektören Carl Algernon. Det var under efterdyningarna av Bofors omstridda export av krut och sprängämnen till Iran via DDR. Men också efter att Bofors i hemlighet tillverkat krut till östtyska folkarméns Kalasjnikovgevär. Även här figurerade ett mystiskt östtyskt företag. I båda affärerna hade DDR:s säkerhetstjänst Stasi sina fingrar med i spelet. Stasi gav sig även in i frågan om immunsjukdomen aids. Målet var att få aids att framstå som ett hemligt amerikanskt biologiskt vapen. Filmregissören Roy Andersson var snabb att svälja betet och bakade in idéerna i en upplysningsfilm, bekostad av Socialstyrelsen.Men den kanske största Stasioperationen blev en flopp. Den gick under namnet Operation Norrsken och skulle kompromettera det svenska kungahuset för dess gamla förbindelser med Nazityskland. Allt avblåstes i sista stund när Stasi och DDR insåg att det fanns pengar att tjäna. Närmare bestämt genom att göra ljusskygga affärer med svenska Asea, Bofors - och den socialdemokratiska regeringen Palme.
That the Lisbon Treaty lays the foundation for a supranational asylum and immigration policyis surprising, even more so for Liberal Intergovernmentalism (LI), whose founder AndrewMoravcsik predicts that no such development will take place. While the article uses LI as its pointof departure, it shows that it runs into problems with regards to the policy area of asylum andimmigration. The article therefore turns to the (neo-)functionalist concept of spillover. Whileworking with the concept, it was deemed necessary to create a more coherent typology ofdifferent spillovers. The article suggests that the concept of spillover may be both descriptiveand explanatory. With regards to descriptive spillover, it seems valuable to differentiate betweenwidening and deepening spillovers, but concerning explanatory spillovers, more options becamevisible: there are unintended or intended functional spillovers, as well as unintended political,cultivated and social spillovers. The argument is illustrated through a detailed study of Sweden – a‘reluctant European’ that within the area of asylum and immigration made a fundamental U-turnwith regards to a supranationalism, a change that can be described as a social spillover.
Despite a general acknowledgement that knowledge about identities is essential for understanding international relations, surprisingly little has been written about what actually activates one of a state’s many identities and not another. More generally, the article suggests that situational relevance and commitment are of importance. More specifically, it is suggested that a policy area’s legitimisation is a factor that may affect the commitment to a collective identity. The argument is illustrated by the case of ‘Norden’, as the inhabitants of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden call their territory. The end of the Cold War and Sweden and Finland joining Denmark in the European Union (EU) put Nordic identity under severe stress in the beginning of the 1990s. As shown, this collective identity was intensely active in the case of the Nordic Passport Union, but less so in the case of environmental negotiations.
The most direct way to regulate immigration is to decrease the possibilities to reach a state’s territory through visa demands, carrier sanctions, and limiting the chances of granting a residence permit even when a person succeeds in reaching a state’s territory. However, during the last decade several scholars noted that in an attempt to decrease the number of asylum seekers, states have also started to curb asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants’ right to work and social benefits. Intriguingly, even though Sweden has followed this international pattern of using direct ways to curb the number of asylum seekers, this paper shows that to a large extent Sweden has abstained from using the more recent indirect methods. Although there are examples of reductions in social benefits, the trend has generally been the reverse in Sweden. Unexpectedly, we suggest that an economic crisis, such as the one that occurred in Sweden in the early 1990s, may lead to an increase of certain rights. We also discuss a number of possible explanations for the Swedish case, including whether a proportional electoral system creates possibilities for small parties to influence policies pertaining to social rights. Furthermore, since we demonstrate that in recent years children have been the primary beneficiaries of an increase in social rights, we suggest that groups perceived to be vulnerable are more likely to experience an increase in social rights.
The aim of this paper is in part to distinguish the ideas raised in the Swedish political debate on the new discrimination law in relation to protection of groups. Is protection by law against discrimination needed for the individual or the group? If it is needed for members of groups, are these groups viewed on as static or variable. Are there any conflicts present between group interests? We link these ideas to three different theoretical perspectives: multiculturalism, feminism and intersectionality and further examine the differences and contradictions between the perspectives represented by members of parliament. Drawing on the political debate and documents formulated within the government, this paper analyzes views on identity by group through the use of idea analysis. The main conclusions of this paper are the following. All theoretical views chosen are present within the debate. The representatives of feminism and multiculturalism call for distinctive needs. However, the philosophical debate current them between is not represented in the political debate on the discrimination law. The feminist concern stands without a multicultural opponent. The perspective on intersectionality is included in the debate but the understanding is quite incoherent. The government representatives choose to propagate for the principle of equal treatment instead of a variable view on groups.
Much of the literature on political corruption is based on indices such as the ones presented by Transparency International, but the reliability and validity of these indices are questionable. The main alternative approach – qualitative case studies – often lacks a theoretical framework allowing for systematic empirical analysis. To remedy this shortcoming, this article places qualitative case studies into the framework of principal-agent theory. The cases comprise two Swedish county councils (regional governments), both of which reorganised their administrations in similar ways in the 1990s. One experienced corruption scandals, but the other did not. In comparing them, the article links the propensity for corruption to institutional design – in particular, the mechanisms of delegation and control.
The aim of this study is to analyse the Swedish state´s ambition in achieving equality among its citizens. By studying the new urban policy introduced by the government in 1998 from a theoretical perspective the purpose of this essay is to understand the ideational dimensions in this policy project, in regard to established understandings about equality.
The theoretical framework on which this study is based consists of two different parts. The first presents dominating models on welfare states, mainly focusing on the socialdemocratic welfare state. The second introduces influential theoretical views on equality, primarily discussing universalism and a differentiated equality view. It also presents theoretical views on how to understand the relationship between the state an its citizens. This essay is taking its departure from a perspective based on constructionism, by asking how the problem was constructed and what the policy tells us. It is a case study using a discoursive approach in analysing the policy from an understanding of policies as arguments shaped by normative assumptions made by actors whose assumptions are limited by the discourse in which they exist.
The main result of the study is that since the policy was created while the socialdemocratic party was in government, the normative assumptions, on which the party base its analysis on society, therefore had a main influence on the policy. Even though the analysis of the policy shows a tendency in Swedish welfare politics moving away from universalism towards a differentiated view on equality, with the state still marked by communitarian ideals, there appears to be a resistance towards including the perspective of cultural recognition next to the traditional view on economic redistribution based on a class theory.
This paper addresses how political parties make decisions. Parties often have to choose between conflicting objectives such as influence on policy, control of the government, and support among the voters. This paper examines the behavior of the two Swedish parties on one of their particular policy positions: Swedish withdrawal from the EU. The aim is to describe why the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) and the Green Party (Miljöpartiet) retain this
specific policy position when it on one hand seems damaging to their chances of getting into government, and on the other seems to be an unrealistic policy to realize. I undertake a twocase study of the two Swedish parties, which I assume to represent a population of Nordic parties critical to the EU. I employ a theory based on an analytical framework of three models of party goals and behaviors: office, policy or votes. The analysis seeks to identify the factors
and the motives behind the parties’ stubborn policy. By studying material from two party congresses and interviewing representatives from each party, I conclude that the policy position is important mainly for reasons of principle and symbolism. The structure of the EU represents all that the Left and the Greens dislike and, together with the Swedish critical EU opinion, it becomes almost a duty for the parties to keep their strong aversion towards Swedish membership in the EU. And while the parties do not perceive that the keeping of the policy would be an obstacle for other party goals, it will not be cut out from the party program.