Suchergebnisse

Welfare, and the role of social democracy in defining its content and meaning, is often described as one of Sweden's distinguishing features. However, in the quest for liberalization and marketization, reforms in past decades have substantially changed the political landscape. These developments have led many to question the viability of describing the main political actors and their attitudes towards the welfare state in terms of left or right. This dissertation contributes to the understanding of ideological convergence and past and current political cleavages by analysing the welfare debate on freedom of choice between the two main political opponents in Swedish politics over three decades. Using a morphological approach, where ideologies are viewed as distinctive configurations of political concepts creating specific conceptual patterns depending on how they are combined, the analysis focuses on the content of the concept of choice by examining the conceptual relationships between political concepts such as choice, the public and the private, equality, equity and need. The analysis reveals a convergence suggesting that the parties have united around a narrower concept of freedom of choice that relates to how it is implemented in welfare services, that is, the choice between different providers of welfare services. However, important differences remain, which are expressed in the parties' differing conceptions of the power resources citizens need to become truly free individuals. These findings suggest that, while freedom of choice has become a central concept in the political debate, it is not central to the parties' ideologies. Instead, the core of the parties' ideologies appears to be articulated in e.g. the political cleavages that remain, which can be described as differing views on the role of politics and competing conceptions of need and equality. It is how these cleavages are translated into policies that will determine possible welfare choices in the future.

In recent years, ideas of conscience and the liberty of conscience have become ever more salient in public discourse. Historically, these concepts have been used to mark out a certain scope of freedom and protection in moral, political and legal conflicts. In our time, individual conscience is frequently used to legitimate objections to, for instance, military service and medical interventions like abortion and vaccination. So too in Sweden – a country widely described as one of the most modern and secularized societies in the world. In this volume, a group of researchers in history, human rights, law, ethics and sociology of religion address some of the most central issues around conscience and the liberty of conscience in Sweden from the middle ages to the present. By situating conscience and liberty in wider intellectual, social and political settings, the essays provide alternative ways of thinking about the most intractable problems surrounding these concepts – the relationship between law and morality, the tension between individual and collective freedom, as well as the role of religion in public affairs. This volume will create new avenues of research for scholars and students interested in challenges related to conscience and liberty: both those in ethics, politics and law seeking a historical perspective, and those in history who want to tie their studies to the present.

The people's constituent power was among the most central ideas of the democratic revolutions during the late 18th century, at the time intrinsically related to the dilemma of liberation & freedom: the risk that freedom is lost unless the revolutions are institutionalized, & the risk that the constitution comes to embody a conditioned freedom unless liberation is pursued. This dilemma was central to the three conceptions of constituent power discussed in this article: (1) the Sans-Culottes' view of constituent power as permanently residing in the people & tied to liberation, (2) the radical democratic mechanisms of controlling legislative & executive power exemplified by the constitution of Pennsylvania, & (3) the American federalists' argument that constituent power is the expression of the people's will at the moment of adopting the constitution, after which it resides in the background & lose its importance. These ideas of constituent power are discussed & then related to the contemporary debate about it in the context of constitutional democracy. Adapted from the source document.

This thesis focuses primarily on the question "why is freedom of speech valuable in a democratic context?" I argue that it is problematic that free-dom of speech takes for granted and that the main question therefore is absent in current political science research, in legal texts, and in public discourse. I also argue that in democratic states the focus, regarding freedom of speech, is often on its boundaries and limits rather than on its justification. But it is highly problematic to find and establish its limits without dis-cussion why freedom of speech is desirable in the first place. The thesis poses two questions. The first concerns how freedom of speech is justified by the five strongest available arguments. I analyze the arguments and conclude that they justify freedom of speech differently but that they are similar in one aspect. Freedom of speech is not primarily justified as an individual right. It is rather justified in terms of the public good. The second question asks if we can reach a better understanding of the central arguments. I argue that the arguments have something in common; all of them justify freedom of speech with reference to a common value. I argue that this common value is what I call, a "reliable communication process". All five arguments claim that freedom of speech is valuable because it promotes a reliable communication process. This process is reliable in terms of its capacity to create a pluralistic public discourse that exposes citizens to ideas and perspectives that they would not have chosen in advance. This study results in the following findings. First, that freedom of speech is valuable in a democratic context because the reliable communication process supports the central democratic value of the enlightened understanding of the democratic citizen. Secondly, that I can give a principled reason for the boundaries of freedom of speech. This means that, according to the arguments, there are reasons to abolish or limit freedom of speech if the reliable communication process is damaged or absent, for example in case of war, anarchy, or violent circumstances. Third, that there are strong reasons in support of a public service media, and greater state intervention in media politics. One strong reason for that conclusion is that a public service media can ensure a pluralistic communication in society and counteract information conformity and intolerance among the members of society.

The aim of this study is to investigate the 1993 reform and the process where control and management philosophies, systems of rules and regulations are assumed to apply both to the centuries of academic tradition of specific characteristics of organisation and cultural norms. Based on documents, educational political intentions and the plans of action which hereby arise I attempt to analyse the impact of the reform. New planning and control systems and goal and achievement-related allocation of resources are being introduced at the same time as the country's seats of learning are becoming independent authorities with the right to create their own internal organisation. The new government wants to achieve a decentralisation of decisions-making, responsibility and authority, and to follow up and evaluate operations and results. A particular enquiry has been set up, RUT-93, with the aim of studying the position the individual establishments of higher education take in practice towards the aims of the reform, intentions and to the new possibilities for freedom that are provided. From a qualitative point of view I analyse how the country's seats of learning react and act in relation to these new preconditions on the basis of a questionnaire and a referral from the RUT-93 enquiry, as well as my own additional empirical material in the form of personal interviews. I reach the conclusion that the state authorities use the concept of freedom to explain a moving away from a centrally controlled system at the same time that strengthened central control is perceived at the country's seats of learning, as connections are made between allocation of resources and demands for achievement, follow-up and results attained. The strategy behind the RUT-93 enquiry is to ensure that a process of reform survives even if the right-wing government were to lose power after one mandate period. The activities for which initiative is taken, however, acquire the nature of predictability as the aims of the reform and the directives of the report are viewed as being indeterminate and unclear for the country's seats of learning. I feel I have discovered at least four different horizons of interpretation for how the country's seats oflearning view the reform: the discourse of tradition, an organisational perspective, a power perspective and an undergraduate education perspective. It also appears to be the case that the traditional academic exercise of power is expected to be replaced by a model of control and management of a 'top-down' nature which applies to society as a whole and where control of aims, economy and results is the guiding principle. There also seems to be a connection between the concepts of fraternity, management and democracy, where the concept of classic academic is often associated with and even used synonymously with concepts such as fraternal, democratic, nonhierarchical and 'bottom-up' -Ollented, while the concept of management-oriented is often used as an explanation of a hierarchy or a 'top-down' philosophy of some kind. I have tried to describe how the 1993 reform of higher education must be understood on the basis of the existential, societal, historical and gender-dependent fabric so that it does not hang loose and floating. A summarising conclusion contains the plausible fact that both state authorities and tax-payers have an interest in the fact that the operations which are run at higher education establishments is in concord with what is happening in society in general, which, however, does necessarily mean that operations must be run or controlled on the basis of the same principles or rules as other state authorities and even less on the basis of what applies to organisations and companies. ; Licentiatavhandling framlagd vid Lärarhögskolan, Stockholmsuniversitet den 12 mars, 1997. Opponent: Agneta Linné, Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm.

This article focuses on the justification of a positive & a negative attitude respectively towards judicial review. The analysis is performed by textual analysis of the texts of four authors with different opinions on the subject matter: Robert Dahl & Jeremy Waldron who have a negative attitude towards judicial review, & Erwin Chemerinsky & Ronald Dworkin who have a positive attitude. A theoretical model is being used for the analysis, which consists of different dimensions of the issue of democracy & judicial review. The study shows that there are important differences in the democratic values underpinning a positive & a negative attitude. There are differences of opinion on the balance between democracy as; process or substance, rule by the broad mass of people or rule by an elite, the spirit of the community or the rights of the individual. The analysis also points out that there are differences concerning the comprehension of the important democratic concepts of liberty & equality. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

"Scientists, engineers, and a free-choice society is a book about control, largely the governing of children and young people in Sweden and the efforts made to persuade them to choose careers—and identities—in science and technology in the period 1950–2000. It is very much part of an interdisciplinary research tradition in which perspectives taken from the history of science and education are combined with theories from the field of governmentality studies. The book begins by describing a new societal problem that confronted Sweden, like so many other Western countries, in the immediate post-war years, namely a lack of engineers and scientists. The period from the outbreak of the Second World War to the mid fifties saw a new appreciation for scientific research and its application in both the military and civilian sectors. With the reconstruction of Europe and the Marshall Plan at its height in the fifties, technology and science became gradually associated with rising industrial productivity and with economic growth in general.
By the sixties this had left national employment policy with some markedly pronounced objectives. By the end of the decade, it was obvious that the determination to increase student numbers in science and engineering ran contrary to other political ambitions, and did not sit well with the right of the individual to freedom of choice in education. The attempt to respect people's autonomy while at the same time enabling more of them study these particular disciplines shaped a distinct set of strategies that made up the 'positive exercise of power'—what might also be called liberal governing—in which the main idea was to encourage students to come to science and engineering of their own free will.
The book goes on to demonstrate how this strategy of governing through individual autonomy would result in a series of specific measures in the seventies and on, including changes to the curricula and teaching materials, which were matched by activities outside the traditional bounds of learning such as a travelling science shows, advertising campaigns, and the construction of science and technology centres. The book also spells out the sheer reach of this recruitment policy. Many leading figures in Sweden set out to encourage people to become scientists and engineers—these were voices heard not only from government quarters, but also from industry and special interest groups.
Scientists, engineers and a free-choice society does not set out to answer the question of how best to set about attracting young people into science and technology; rather, it is concerned with how that question has been answered by others, and what impact their responses have had on power relations between society and the individual, and indeed on the place of science and engineering
education in the present. - Naturvetarna, ingenjörerna och valfrihetens samhälle handlar om styrning av framförallt barn och ungdomar i Sverige till att välja naturvetenskap och teknik som utbildning, yrke och identitet mellan åren 1950–2000. Ämnesmässigt befinner sig texten i en tvärvetenskaplig forskningstradition där perspektiv från vetenskapshistoria och utbildningshistoria används tillsammans med teoretisk inspiration från fältet governmentality studies. I boken beskrivs inledningsvis framväxten av en ny samhällelig problembild i Sverige och övriga västvärlden under tidig efterkrigstid, nämligen bristen på ingenjörer och naturvetare. Den period som sträckte sig från andra världskriget krigets utbrott till 1950-­?talets mitt hade sett en ny värdering av vetenskaplig forskning och tillämpning, både från de militära och civila delarna av samhället. I samband med återuppbyggnaden av Europa och den pågående Marshallhjälpen sammankopplades teknik och naturvetenskap alltmer med ökad industriell produktivitet men också med ekonomisk tillväxt.
Ovanstående utveckling ledde under 1960-­?talet till att rekryteringspolitiska målsättningar uttalades allt starkare. I slutet av decenniet blev det uppenbart att viljan att höja antalet studerande i teknik och naturvetenskap kom att kollidera med andra utbildningspolitiska ambitioner, framförallt den om individens rätt till ett fritt val av utbildning. I försöken att på samma gång respektera detta självbestämmande och samtidigt skapa fler studerande inom de ovan nämnda disciplinerna växte strategier fram i formen av ett slags "positiv maktutövning" – vad som också kallas liberalt styre – där den bärande idén var att förmå elever att söka sig till naturvetenskap och teknik av sin egen fria vilja.
Boken ger fortsättningsvis prov på hur denna strategi att styra genom individens autonomi frambringade en rad olika specifika påverkanssåtgärder från 1970-­?talet och framåt. Bland dessa återfinns förändrade kursplaner och läromedel, men också insatser utanför den traditionella läromiljön, såsom kringresande vetenskapsshower, reklamkampanjer och uppförandet av teknik-­? och vetenskapscentra. Vad som också framträder i boken är rekryteringspolitikens bredd. Många aktörer i samhället verkade för fler naturvetare och ingenjörer – inte endast på myndighetsnivå utan även inom näringsliv och bland enskilda intresseorganisationer.
Naturvetarna, ingenjörerna och valfrihetens samhälle ger inga svar inte på hur fler ungdomar skall förmås bli intresserade av naturvetenskap och teknik. Snarare handlar boken om hur den frågan besvarats av andra och vilka konsekvenser detta har fått för uppkomsten av nya maktrelationer mellan samhälle och individ, men också för de naturvetenskapliga och tekniska utbildningarnas positioner i samtiden."

In the public and academic debate, the liberalization of Swedish school policy is often equated with privatization and -- to a lesser degree -- differentiation. The first is associated with the rapid growth of a semi-private free school sector, driven by slogans such as freedom of choice, cost-efficiency, parental influence and market competition. The second is associated with the decentralization of power and goal- oriented governance, aiming to achieve a variegated and flexible school system that is better equipped to meet individual needs, interests and preferences. The article examines this widespread conception of the liberalization of Swedish school policy. More precisely, the objective is to position central school policy developments over the last two decades in the liberal field through a tripartite typology. I argue that the mainstream conception exaggerates the privatization type of liberalization, while neglecting another, less visible but very influential type -- namely universalization. Adapted from the source document.

The purpose of this article is to study how Sweden's political parties handled the process of constitutional review from 2004-2008. In particular the analysis examines how parties choose between their office-seeking, policy-seeking and vote-seeking goals and the desire to maintain ultra party agreement. Three expectations are identified: (a) parties' different strategic situations lead them to advocate different long-term goals; (b) different parts' levels will take different stands in order to increase their influence vis-a-vis other levels: (c) party leaderships will try to increase their freedom to negotiate with others by avoiding extensive intra party debates or decisions. The study is based on 30 interviews with representatives closely involved in the constitutional-reform process. The conclusion is that parties have self-interested goals as regards the question of how the political game should be regulated. The conflict between different intra-party levels is also obvious. However, due to party members' disinterest in the constitutional review, party leaders did not need to adopt a variety of strategies to avoid a large scale intra-part debate, It was enough for them to claim that the resulting compromise was actually something of a victory' for each party. Adapted from the source document.

The main question in this thesis is what kind of considerations political parties in the Swedish parliament have made between individual freedoms and state power in matters concerning information technology. Hence, it relates to a central and never ending debate about the proper relationship between the individual rights of citizens and protection of their personal integrity vis-à-vis state power and the interest of society in general, and in particular how this is affected by the rapid development of information technology. Four cases of legislative processes about information technology are analyzed. These cases concern parliamentary debates regarding the secrecy act (sekretesslagen) in 1980 (first debate), three debates concerning the personal data act (personuppgiftslagen) in 1998-99, three debates concerning the surveillance and crime prevention act (lag om hemlig rumsavlyssning & åtgärder för att förhindra vissa särskilt allvarliga brott med mera) in 2006-07 and three debates concerning the national defence radio establishment act (FRA & lag om signalspaning) in 2007-09. An analytical model is developed that includes two ideal types, individual freedom and state power, for the study and categorization of the parties and their positions in each debate. Thus, parties are categorized according to their proximity to the ideal types. The study illustrates that the majority of parties have a tendency to compromise between values constituting the two ideal types; they choose a so called hybrid position in between individual freedom and state power. The exception to this pattern is the Green Party and the Left Party that tend to choose a position close to individual freedom. Three hypotheses are tested. The first implies that parties tend to position themselves in-between the ideal type positions of individual freedom and state power (hybrid positions). This hypothesis gets strong support as hybrid positions are the most common outcome. The second hypothesis infers that a party has a tendency to support ...

The goal of this article is to examine what role literature played for Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania's political leader between 1965 and 1989. I focus on the period between 1968 and 1974, when the basis was laid for a cultural policy which was to be applied until the end of Ceausescu's reign in 1989. Such studies are easier to conduct today, when the archives of the Romanian Communist Party have been opened, and the protocols of Ceausescu's meetings with Romanian writers after his so called "Little Cultural Revolution" in 1971 have been published. What is especially salient is that Ceausescu saw literature, especially formalistically experimental literature, as a potential danger for his project of ideological repression of Romanian citizens. He also used literature and art in general in his struggle for independence from the Soviet Union and emancipation of Romanian identity. The results of Ceausescu's ideological turn in cultural policy were not at all positive for Romanian literature. Adapted from the source document.