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International Politics has been characterized as an American social science. This article traces the early development of the discipline in Sweden in the shadow of US hegemony. The advantages & disadvantages of the Swedish decision to keep International Relations (IR) within the broader discipline of Political Science are discussed. Recalling the early tensions between International Politics & Peace & Conflict Research, the author identifies some prominent traits in the development of Swedish IR in recent decades. Finally, broader developments in IR research generally are outlined in terms of consecutive debates, continuously broadening research themes, fashions, reaction to dramatic events in the world, & dialectics between paradigms emphasizing anarchy or order. References. Adapted from the source document.

In Norway, 2005 was a year of celebrations, linkel, first & foremost, to the fact that 100 years had passed since the peaceful dissolution of the personal union between Norway & Sweden. Despite the absence of broad popular support for the idea that this should merit any celebrations, government & media spent considerable resources on high-profile promotion of the 1905 story, including the side-events leading up to or following the famous 7 June Declaration of the Norwegian Storting (Parliament). In the context of nation-building, historical milestones tend to take on a flavor of history-building, -- the stuff that national myths are made of. In the saga of Norwegian nation-building, 1905 had come to play a perhaps surprisingly inflated role. Thus -- less surprisingly -- in the interpretation handed over to a contemporary audience, the various events of 1905 have been suffused with a series of myths, some of which have assumed the character of national dogmas. In particular, the author explores the myths surrounding the referendum of 12-13 November 1905, & demonstrates how vested interests have been instrumental in consolidating the popular (but false) interpretation that the real issue of the referendum was Norway's constitution (monarchy vs. republic) & not the conditions set forth by Prince Carl of Denmark for accepting the offer made by the Norwegian Government & its parliament to assume the Norwegian throne. In fact, employing devious tactics, prime Minister Michelsen succeeded not only in winning a comfortable victory for prince Carl's candidacy (whereby the prince became King Haakon VII of Norway), but he also managed to entrench the notion that the referendum above all was a resounding confirmation of a (continued) monarchical constitutional order. The long-term effect (which is still very much a defining feature of Norway's political self-image) was to give the country's republicans (who, at the onset of 1905 were a dominant force in the Norwegian political discourse) a permanently marginalized position as a fringe movement of eccentrics & certified losers. References. Adapted from the source document.

This article contains an overview of how the study of human rights issues has developed into a separate multidisciplinary field of academic study & education in Sweden. Its relationship to the different fields of political science is outlined, as well as general problems of a multidisciplinary subject. Three contributions to an edited volume containing Swedish & foreign scholarship on human rights issues drawn from the Swedish Forum for Human Rights, a biannual gathering of practitioners & scholars, are discussed. Those contributions deal with the tensions between universalist & relativist approaches to the character of human rights, the tensions between the development of international law & power relations in international politics, & tensions between group rights & individual rights. 25 References. Adapted from the source document.

The article is a comment to an article appeared originally in European Political Science (2004) by Simon Hix from London School of Economics. In it, Hix ranks European Political Science Institutes according to their publication record 1993-2002, regarding quantity & impact. Swedish institutes ranked low (Uppsala Institute, the highest, in place 148). Different reasons for this evaluation are discussed, & the author proposes more articles published in English, more articles in international publications, & an increased presence in international conferences is suggested. A. Barral

To what extent is Swedish political science influenced by its international surroundings? It is a commonly held view that the US has hegemony within the political science discipline. Using three different indicators -- percentage of foreign references in doctoral dissertations, percentage of foreign references in the articles of Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, & a questionnaire to the professors in political science at the five major universities -- this article demonstrates that the alleged US hegemony is a myth. It is more appropriate to talk of an Anglo-American axis of dominance. Although Swedish political science is strongly influenced by international theory & methodology, we have not found any major changes in foreign reliance (apart from internal variance) over the last 30 years. Hence, Swedish political science -- according to Swedish political scientists, at least -- is as strong as it was one scholarly generation ago. 7 Tables, 2 Appendixes, 18 References. Adapted from the source document.

Der Autor ist der Präsident der Region Åland

This article aims to identify what critical categories are applied to review of doctoral dissertations in political science & what patterns of change might impact these same categories through time. Some of the fundamental concepts entailed in faculty review of dissertation are presented here on the basis of centuries-old thought. While these concepts remain valid today, their application is assumed to have changed. Through a content analysis of reviews made of political science dissertations over a 20-year period, a notable shift in emphasis is made from critical attention to source material & empirical analysis to critical attention to perspective of the writer & theoretical approach. Important developments in the composition of review committees are also discussed, including an increase in the committee's number of professors within one discipline, international profile, & departmental balance regarding the department of the dissertation author. These & other changes are here situated in the larger framework of character shifts that have affected political science & other disciplines throughout the last generation. 2 Tables, 14 References. C. Brunski

This article investigates the influence of Swedish drug users on Swedish drug policy during the period 1965-2004. The main focus is on public policy, ie, the policy-making of parliament, government, & key government departments & agencies. Both the users' processual influence, that is the degree & the way in which users participate in the decision-making process, as well as the users' substantial influence, or the degree to which the drug policy produces results that are in the interest of the users, are studied. The processual influence was studied by reviewing user influence within the framework for public drug policy inquiries conducted during this period. The substantial influence was studied by evaluating the development of the Swedish drug policy, using a catalogue of key user issues (based on an international comparison of various user organizations) as a yard stick. The results indicate that user influence over public drug policy generally speaking has been extremely limited. Furthermore, as far as can be judged, this influence seems to have diminished over time, a development which has been similar for processual & substantial influence skills. Tables, References. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of this essay is to provide an overview of current research on international democratization. I start by discussing the choice of empirical indicators. Given a set of indicators -- Freedom House & Polity, which stand out as the most useful ones -- I make a graphic representation of democratic tendencies in different regions in the world. In this survey one region, North Africa & the Middle East, comes out as exceptional; here no general improvements have been made since the early 1970s. I then make an account of explanatory conditions which have proved in large-n empirical studies to play a role for democratic progress (such as modernization, access to oil, popular demonstrations & the type of authoritarian regime). I end up in a puzzle, which regards the Muslim countries. We can establish, on the one hand, that these countries clearly under-perform democratically. But on the other hand, comparative research has not managed so far to point out why that is the case. We can see a pattern, but we cannot point out an empirically solid explanatory mechanism. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

Since the early 1950's the foreign policy of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) towards Sweden and the other Western European states was dominated by a striving for diplomatic recognition. This thesis examines that striving through an analysis of the East German-Swedish relations from 1949 until 1972. The main focus is on the years 1954-1972. The thesis draws mainly on East German archival material from the ruling communist party SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands) and the GDR foreign ministry. A starting point of the thesis is that GDR generally used all its contacts abroad to further its foreign political goals. GDR's efforts to develop the relations with Sweden on seven different areas are investigated. An important aim is to analyse GDR's political utilisation of areas, such as culture and traffic, that normally are not considered political or studied by traditional political history. The application of the concept of public diplomacy is central in this context. The analysis of the Ostseewoche (Baltic Week) is a significant part of the investigation of areas that traditionally not are considered as being part of foreign policy. The Osteewoche was a week filled with cultural activities and sport. The analysis of the inaugural ceremony and other activities of the Ostseewoche shows that even official East German ceremonies were used for purposes of foreign policy. However, GDR's relations with Sweden on the normal foreign policy arenas such as diplomacy and economy are also analysed. Great weight is given to analysing the perceptions of the political elite and the foreign policy actors to understand why certain actions were taken and why certain elements were significant of the GDR foreign policy. The question of which political instruments were the most important to the East German efforts to improve the relations with Sweden is also investigated. An important result of the thesis is that GDR had a comprehensive strategy for the development of the relations with Sweden. The main elements of this strategy were in place 1958 and did largely not change since. The spreading of a positive GDR-image was a very significant element of the East German foreign policy. Sweden was one of the most important Western European countries to the GDR foreign policy during this period of time.

The thesis has two purposes. The first is to understand the organizational forms of the public administration when it participates in international rule making processes. The second purpose investigates democratic implications of internationalization of the Swedish state administration. A theoretical framework, combining theories of governance with ideas on resource dependence and a neo-institutional approach, is applied to three empirical cases. The cases follow decision making processes within the European Employment Strategy, The Kyoto Protocol for reduction of green house gasses and negotiations on trade facilitation within the WTO. The studied processes can be described as complex and fragmented, containing multiple types of actors and parallel arenas, complex technical material and bureaucratic processes. They were also characterised by the fact that policy was created throughout the course of the processes. They also seemed to lack an ending and were to a high degree bound by their history. The administrations' response resulted in an organisational form that is theoretically developed in the study – enclaves. Enclaves contain members from different organizations, both private and state organizations and the work within them is carried out in an informal and interactive way. They are de-coupled units with stable membership that is related to positions in the hierarchy. As opposed to networks, enclaves are not self-organizing but the membership is mainly controlled by state-actors. The second aim of the study is carried out through a number of indicators derived from the deliberative and the representative models of democracy. The blurring of responsibilities, the lack of transparency and the barriers for entrance into the enclaves made the organisational forms of the administration seem problematic in relation to the representative model. However other features of the enclaves seemed to support a more communicative logic of action, leaving the deliberative model more promising as a way of understanding the administrations' work as democratically legitimate. Still, the analysis showed that the deliberative model also faced some challenges in terms of lack of openness and inclusion of all relevant stake holders.