Framsida; Innehållsförteckning; Förord; I. Reformism och utopism?; II. Wigforss pragmatistiska position; III. Ett annat samhälle är möjligt att tänka sig; IV. Ett annat samhälle är möjligt att utforma; V. Ett annat samhälle är möjligt att skapa engagemang för; VI. Wigforss och socialdemokratins framtid; VII. Pragmaticism, reformism och utopism; Referenser; Baksida
Scholarship in international law aims at addressing global forest governance comprehensively. This article reviews the recent contribution Global Forest Governance - Legal Concepts and Policy Trends by Rowena Maguire and puts it into the perspective of recent political and policy science research on global forests. While finding Maguire's volume being a very timely and valuable contribution to the interdisciplinary discussions on international forest governance, we identify some weaknesses which are mostly rooted in methodological critique and a lack of a systematic framework for analysis.
Political science research in Sweden is heavily dependent on external financing. Two institutions have long had a special position in regards of financing research in traditional core areas of political science, namely Research Council and National Bank Jubilee Fund. The competition for research grants is now solid and the projects awarded grants may thus in some sense be regarded as representing "leading-edge research" in Swedish state sciences. Adapted from the source document.
What is good politics? It is both a knowledge of philosophical, organizational and normative questions. It is about how and where the political science branch of the social science tree grows, of what political scientists really should do and how political science education should be conducted. By extension, it is also about which frames political order, power and social organization can best be analyzed within. There are big questions. Are there any good answers or just bad? Or could it even be that the question of what distinguishes good from bad politics leads to awkward enough paradigmatic, epistemological, and other difficult or insoluble problems that maybe we should refrain from imposing or even trying to answer it? Well, it would actually be pretty bad. Adapted from the source document.
Argues that because of its international status, the English speaking world has an overly dominant position in formulating theories, models and research problems, which the Swedish political science merely copies. Repeating studies and applying the same methods is hardly a sign of a mature and cumulative science. Swedish political science could offer much more by studying fields such as Nordic social democracy, Swedish criminal policy or Nordic far right parties with unique theories and methods. L. Pitkaniemi
Research on Europeanization clearly shows that membership in the European Union over time affects the national political systems of member states. Given Norway's extensive integration within the EU, it is relevant and important to assess whether and, if so, how the Norwegian political system, too, has changed as a result, and how these effects compare with the general patterns among EU member states. Exploring the Europeanization of Norway in a comparative perspective, the article maps the effects of European integration for four central power relationships in the Norwegian political system: national-supranational authority, executive-legislative-judicial authority, political-administrative authority and national-regional authority. It is demonstrated that integration within the EU to a large extent has had the same effects in Norway as in the member states of the EU, despite Norway's alternative form of affiliation: extensive delegation of power to the supranational level, strengthening of the government in relation to the parliament, an increasingly important role for national courts, expanded power and autonomy of the executive administration in relation to the political leadership, and some strengthening of the regions vis-a-vis the central government. Adapted from the source document.
Already from the title of this dissertation can two important points be made. The first is that the dissertation is about the relationship between central and local government, more specifically in Sweden today. The second point is that this relationship is seen from a balance of power perspective, where the relative power of the actors is an empirical question rather than derived from a given hierarchical structure. Such a perspective is based on analysing the actors as interdependent. The central government can thus be dependent on the local government, as well as the other way around, and this interdependence can vary over time and between policy areas. This perspective differs from that of most studies, which often see the relationship either in terms of steering (that local governments are executing centrally determined policies) or local self-government (that the Swedish local governments has a constitutionally protected right to handle their own affairs within certain legal limits). I argue that both these perspectives take a hierarchical point of departure and are, to a large degree, static in their approaches, which means that they risk not discovering, or have problem explaining, changes in the relation between central and local government. To view the relationship between central and local government as interdependence leads to a focus on the resources that the actors possess. For public organisations the most relevant resources are: authority-related resources, financial resources, political resources, informational resources, and organisational resources. The central government has a power advantage concerning authority and financial and political resources while local governments generally have an advantage in terms of informational and organisational resources. The policy area chosen is Swedish refugee policy. The basic paradox within this area is that the central government grants the refugees asylum but cannot give them a place to live without the permission of the local government. This permission is accomplished through voluntary agreements signed between the National Integration Office and the local governments. It is then the local governments that integrate the refugees to Swedish society by providing housing, education, healthcare and so on while the central government is giving the local government a grant to cover the expenses. The central government has lacked political, informational and authority-related resources. The resource used to compensate for this has been the financial resource. By economic incentives the central government has encouraged local governments to increase their refugee reception. This has been the central government's universal weapon and has been used to reduce its vulnerability as well as its sensitivity. For local governments, authority-related and financial resources have been lacking. The resource that the local governments have had, all the way through the time period studied here, is the organisational resource. This is something that the central government simply cannot provide and this is why there is a relationship of interdependence – just as only the central government has authority in its power base, the local level is the only one with organisational resources.
Introduces the nomination process for the Swedish Political Science Association's Essay Prize and the winning essay for 2008 by Mikael Persson titled 'Did the egalitarian reforms of the Swedish educational system equalize levels of democratic citizenship?' The essay studied the effects of the educational reform done in the mid 1990's and was proclaimed to be well written and methodologically advanced by the awarding committee. L. Pitkaniemi
Introduces two articles on the role of Swedish political science internationally and on equality in Swedish political science. While both topics have been previously discussed, they are still considered important and sensitive. L. Pitkaniemi
As part of the discontinuation of the Political Science Association's own magazine Politologi, the Journal of Political Science offers a section for the Association. This section will provide new dynamical means of communication between political scientists & the journal, & therefore stimulate qualified debate & scientific publications. Besides scientific articles, reports from conferences & information on the Association's work are also welcomed. C Brunski
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.
A decreased financing for research education in political sciences is being debated in the Swedish Parliament in 2005. This means that instead of 5-6 Ph.D. students per year, fewer will be accepted, & only every two year. Two reasons: too many previously accepted students & insufficient external financing are given. Working conditions for graduate students are variable between different institutions, the first years usually financed by grants, & only later by more stable fellowships. The need for establishing a national standard for graduate student financing is stressed. A. Barral