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Presents a research design on why and how states should manage cultural diversity with the emphasis that different combinations of neutrality and recognition work better depending on the circumstances. The concept of difference, reason for toleration, the concept of harm and the ends of toleration are discussed. Research design from case selection to material is briefly brought up. L. Pitkaniemi

During the 1990's the diversity idea entered the Swedish socio-political debate under the name 'mångfald'. The concept originated in the United States and discusses how organizations can be more efficient if they combat discrimination and acknowledge differences. This development attracted the attention of mass-media and led to the publication of books, articles and reports that advocated or commented the concept. It had also had effects on policymaking and various types of consultancy work. The present thesis focuses on studying the dissemination of the diversity concept. This is a way of describing how change takes place through the introduction of new ideas and practices and how various forces and obstacles influence this process. In this dissertation it is the ethnic dimension of the diversity concept that is under the spotlight because this is the aspect which has been given most attention in Sweden. Another limiting factor is that the main object of interest it is diversity as a question involving working life and organisation. This thesis consists of three parts. The first part focuses on how the concept was developed in the USA and discusses the prerequisites in Europe for the dissemination of the diversity idea. The conclusion is that although some economic and structural developmental trends are basically the same in Europe and the United States, there are some obstacles due to contextual differences. In the second part the introduction and the dissemination of the diversity concept in Sweden in the 1990's is studied. The main conclusions of this study are that the idea is 're-invented' in a number of different ways as it is diffused in the Swedish context. The idea, that can be labelled as an essentially contested concept, is modified by different actors in several ways. The contextual differences between the USA and Sweden are another reason that the idea becomes modified and watered down during the dissemination process. The third part investigates how the diversity concept is disseminated and implemented in the municipal organization the City of Malmö. Several obstacles to the dissemination process are revealed, for example the complex nature of the organization and the different views on the benefits of a diversity management strategy. These studies of the dissemination of the diversity idea in Sweden points to the fact that the impact of the idea is rather shallow despite the attention that it has attracted in different arenas.

Environmental organizations play an important role in mainstream debates on nature and in shaping our environments. At a time when environmental NGOs are turning to questions of gender-equality and ethnic diversity, we analyze their possibilities to do so. We argue that attempts at ethnic and cultural diversity in environmental organizations cannot be understood without insight into the conceptualizations of nature and the environment that underpin thinking within the organization. Serious attempts at diversity entail confronting some of the core values on nature-cultures driving the organization as well as understanding the dimensions of power such as class, gender, and race that structure its practices. We study what nature means for one such organization, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, and the ways in which thinking about nature dictates organizational practice and sets the boundaries of their work with diversity in their projects on outdoor recreation. We base our analysis on official documents and interviews, analyze how ''diversity'' and ''gender-equality'' are represented in the material and reflect on the interconnections as well as the different trajectories taken by the two issues. Our study shows that the organization's understanding of nature is a central and yet undiscussed determinant of their work with diversity that closes down as much as it opens up the space for greater inclusion of minorities. We argue that for environmental organizations wanting to diversity membership, a discussion of what nature means for people and their relationships to each other and nature is vital to any such efforts.

The aim of this dissertation is to examine inter-ethnic relations between organizationally active people with different ethnic backgrounds. I focus on relations that are based on a mutual interdependence between parties, mutual respect, common procedural rules, real opportunities that expressly approve or reject a proposal in a decision or deliberation situation free from compulsion, where people, who have different ethnic backgrounds, strive after insight and understanding in their relations. In this dissertation I present three empirical cases about cooperation, consultation and participation as forms of inter-ethnic relations from the organizational fields in the society. These cases are examples of what I characterize as "organizing inter-ethnicity", or organizing people with different ethnic backgrounds around common concerns. Organizing inter-ethnicity is in turn a part of organizing and integrating diversity in society. Drawing on the results of three case studies, I distinguish between opportunities and barriers. My case studies clearly illustrate that the tensions that influence the patterns of and variation in opportunities and barriers have sources that reach well beyond ethnicity. Tensions between old and new organizations, between working immigrant organizations and refugee organizations, between organizations from same group or between organizations that have conflicts from their members' countries of origin provide some examples of the difficulties that generate barriers to broad interest constellations between organizations.

Equal pay for equal work and equal opportunities for promotion, the theme of this study, serves to highlight the conditions for equality in one of the most important areas in most adult lives; work. Why study gender? One answer is that the ability to achieve equality in the social hierarchy, given equal qualifications, is a moral intuition that appears to be a necessary condition for steering a progressive society. Adapted from the source document.

In this research anthology, inequality in Swedish working life in a Sweden marked by increased inequality, is studied. Racialised inequality, racism and discrimination in individual workplaces are focused, but inequalities based on class and gender are also studied. The concept of inequality regime is used by several of the authors to analyse work organizations. The workplaces studied are found in different sectors, not least in healthcare. The book also includes contributions that provide comparative international perspectives and studies of the development of inequality over time. The anthology contains 12 chapters based on empirical studies of working life, one chapter that analyses working life inequality from a political theory perspective, an introduction and a closing chapter that frames and draws conclusions from the different studies, as well as an afterword. The authors are 22 researchers from different social science disciplines.

[The problem of representation and bureaucracy. Minority administrators' practices of advocacy in public organizations]The issue of (un)equal representation and the politics of presence in political organizations is central to democratic legitimacy. The theory of representative bureaucracy suggests that the diversity in public organizations reinsures that the interests of different groups are represented in decision-making and implementation processes. The purpose of Nazem Tahvilzadeh's article is to enhance the understanding of if and how senior-level public administrators with ethnic minority background advocate groups whom they identify with. Advocacy is defined as the intention to benefit a certain group in order to improve their living conditions. The empirical material consists of 52 qualitative interviews in five Swedish municipalities, public documents and other written sources. The focus is on the narratives of 12 public administrators about their work and the issue of advocacy. The results show that advocacy does occur in public organizations and that it can be categorized in seven different practices targeting individuals or policy issues. The study actualizes the importance of representative public administration as a central quality of representative government.Publication history: Published original.(Published 2 December 2015)Citation: Tahvilzadeh, Nazem (2015) "Till frågan om representation och byråkratin. Minoritetsadministratörers företrädarpraktiker i offentliga organisationer", in Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys, issue 4, pp. 121–149. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.4.4 ; Frågan om (o)jämlik representation och närvarons politik i politiska organisationer är central för demokratins legitimitet. Teorin om en representativ byråkrati föreslår att mångfalden i den offentliga förvaltningen tillser att olika gruppers intressen representeras i respektive organisationers beslut och verksamhet. Syftet med Nazem Tahvilzadehs artikel är att öka förståelsen för om och i så fall hur tjänstepersoner med minoritetsetnisk bakgrund i ledande befattningar företräder grupper som de identifierar sig med. Företrädarskap definieras som ett medvetet handlande att gynna en viss grupps levnadsvillkor. Det empiriska materialet består av 52 kvalitativa intervjuer i fem svenska kommuner, offentliga dokument och andra textkällor. I fokus står 12 offentliga tjänstepersoners berättelser om deras arbete och företrädarskap. Resultaten visar att företrädarskap förekommer i offentliga organisationer och att detta kan kategoriseras i sju olika praktiker inriktat gentemot enskilda individer eller gentemot policynivå. Studien aktualiserar betydelsen av representativitet i offentlig förvaltning för representativa styrelseskicks kvalitet.Publiceringshistorik: Originalpublicering.(Publicerad 2 december 2015)Förslag på källangivelse: Tahvilzadeh, Nazem (2015) "Till frågan om representation och byråkratin. Minoritetsadministratörers företrädarpraktiker i offentliga organisationer", i Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys, nr 4, s. 121–149. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.4.4

During much of the 20th century, the national party systems of Western Europe remained largely unchanged. However, beginning in the 1970s, these frozen party systems slowly started to melt. As the number of parties has increased, the question of what explains new party entrance has also attracted more scholarly interest. Despite this increased attention, the study of new political parties still suffers from a structuralist bias. The implication is that the fates of new parties are decided almost exclusively by external factors. Some scholars focus on the institutional environment; others emphasize sociological explanations, such as the formation of new cleavages in society. Yet such non-actor-centred perspectives risk being excessively deterministic. They also struggle to explain why some parties succeed in gaining entrance to legislatures while others, seemingly under the same external circumstances, fail. In this thesis, therefore, a new way to study parties and their path to parliament is proposed. Starting with the notion that external conditions alone cannot explain new party entrance, the thesis takes an agency-based perspective. Three sets of strategies are identified as being important means for a party to influence its chances of getting into parliament. They concern the party's resources, its political project and its external relations. In what ways can supply and management of resources, policies and relations with other parties affect the potential for becoming a parliamentary party? Through four in-depth case studies of new entrants into the Swedish national parliament, the Riksdag, the thesis concludes that there are some important commonalities in their paths to parliament. Especially with regard to their resources and their political project, the empirical evidence supports the initial premise: new party entrance is unthinkable without successful strategic behaviour.

During much of the 20th century, the national party systems of Western Europe remained largely unchanged. However, beginning in the 1970s, these frozen party systems slowly started to melt. As the number of parties has increased, the question of what explains new party entrance has also attracted more scholarly interest. Despite this increased attention, the study of new political parties still suffers from a structuralist bias. The implication is that the fates of new parties are decided almost exclusively by external factors. Some scholars focus on the institutional environment; others emphasize sociological explanations, such as the formation of new cleavages in society. Yet such non-actor-centred perspectives risk being excessively deterministic. They also struggle to explain why some parties succeed in gaining entrance to legislatures while others, seemingly under the same external circumstances, fail. In this thesis, therefore, a new way to study parties and their path to parliament is proposed. Starting with the notion that external conditions alone cannot explain new party entrance, the thesis takes an agency-based perspective. Three sets of strategies are identified as being important means for a party to influence its chances of getting into parliament. They concern the party's resources, its political project and its external relations. In what ways can supply and management of resources, policies and relations with other parties affect the potential for becoming a parliamentary party? Through four in-depth case studies of new entrants into the Swedish national parliament, the Riksdag, the thesis concludes that there are some important commonalities in their paths to parliament. Especially with regard to their resources and their political project, the empirical evidence supports the initial premise: new party entrance is unthinkable without successful strategic behaviour.