Suchergebnisse

In this chapter, essential ecological and societal aspects of the Nordic coastal environment are highlighted. These show that local communities and stakeholders need to be more involved in decision-making because their needs and their ecological knowledge are essentialto this process. This also relates to Aichi targets 14, 15, 16 and 18 (see Lucas et al., 2015). There is the need to improve the monitoring of all types of NCP or ecosystem services and to critically review existing indicators that may be used to track the development of biodiversity and NCP. Only by actively analysing data and creating syntheses, is it possible to understand changes in the ecosystem linking biodiversity and NCP.

In the extensive media coverage of the general election in 2010, one feature made a particularly lasting impression. Swedish Radio invited seven prominent members of parliament, each prompted to read and reflect upon modernist Gunnar Ekelof's 1941 poem "En varld ar varje manniska" In an attempt to examine a key aspect of the mutual relation between literature and politics, this article analyses the show and its reception in media, identifying the dichotomization of politics and literature as a central characteristic. Literature -- both from a consumer's and a producer's perspective -- is depicted as independent from, and in every way contrasting, everyday political life. I will thus argue that while Ekelof isn't appropriated ideologically in a traditional manner, e.g. using his poems to support a political argument, he (and literature in general) becomes a means to step out of an official position, instead assuming the role of a fellow man. This should in turn be understood as a claim for political legitimacy stemming from the 1800th century European reinterpretation of public relations in intimate terms. Adapted from the source document.

The aim is to offer an overview in queer theory designed for political scientists. First of all queer theory is placed in a context of feminist studies, gay and lesbian studies, the discursive turn in social science, postmodern approaches to identity, postcolonial theory and Foucault's ideas of power. Then I highlight the political theorist Shane Phelan and her considerations in citizenship. Taking a critical stance against the Modern use of binaries, Phelan argues that acknowledgement of strangeness/strangers should be given priority in ethical aspects of citizenship. In the third section I refer to Butler's theories about gender performativity and the heterosexual matrix, Sedgwick's approach to the concept of homosexuality as well as Rubin's theory about sexual hierarchies. Finally queer theory is neither antifeminist nor profeminist. Yet this theory may support feminist goals. Adapted from the source document.

This dissertation addresses party-culture in political parties represented in the Swedish parliament. Party-culture is investigated by studying collective self-images and norms in Swedish parliamentary party-groups (PPG). The aim of this investigation is to contribute to understanding of the conditions under which parliamentary work is carried out. In order to expand our understanding of these conditions this dissertation looks beyond the formal processes by which party-groups deliver their political message and make decisions, and instead highlights the cultural aspects of these party organizations in the parliament. The method of analysis is qualitative and the material for the study consists of 53 interviews with members of parliament from all represented parties. The parties studied are thus the Social Democratic, Moderate, Liberal, Christian Democrats, Left, Centre, and Green. In addition, some participant observation for the 1998-2002 mandate period in used. The empirical investigation shows that party-culture is revealed via four basic themes: political ability, feelings of political responsibility, the importance social fellowship, and the party's strength in relation to individual party members. The party's culture based on the four themes noted above provides a theoretical structure for interpretation that combines an Aristotelian idea about basic knowledge types, sophia and phronesis, with cultural theorists Mary Douglas' grid-group-analysis. Based on this interpretation method it is shown that party-cultures distinguish themselves from each other in a way that diverges from the left-right spectrum that dominates Swedish politics. At the same time as the parties demonstrate differences in party-culture, there are also some similarities between the parties, and these similarities suggest that the parties have adjusted themselves to a more general culture within the parliament, most visibly the focus on factual knowledge and a certain requirement for modesty from party members. ; Konverterat ISBN: 978-91-554-5882-9

At Ifpra's World Congress in Hong Kong, the decision was taken to set up a new Scientific Task Force (STF). One of the main activities of this Task Force is to provide state-of-the-art knowledge on different aspects of parks. A major challenge is of course to find scientific proof for the benefits provided by urban parks, benefits that we often take for granted. In order to make sure that parks are part of political agendas at different levels, sound evidence of park benefits has to be provided. This need can be met by a review of existing scientific literature (best external evidence), carried out in a systematic way. By applying a systematic method the usefulness of such a document will increase, since the findings will meet the standards for evidence-based decisions.

The aim of the overview article is to encircle a research field focusing the role of local government in the Swedish national climate protection policy. First, the policy area of climate protection is historically identified as a part of a third generation policy areas. Secondly, relating to contemporary governance literature some steering measurements are presented. There is thus an increasing steering complexity containing hierarchical, market-based & network based steering. Thirdly, the role of local government is discussed in terms of reasons for engaging or not engaging in climate protection work. Political, institutional, financial & professional aspects are considered important in order to explain variations in municipal climate protection activities. Finally some research questions are put forth, such as how & why municipal leaders are handling uncertainty in certain ways, municipal leaders as network managers & local climate protection policy-making & implementation from perspectives of learning & democracy. References. Adapted from the source document.

After years of various forms of cooperation between the government and various opposition parties, the Swedish parliamentary elections in 2002 resulted in a contact between the Social-democratic minority government, the Left Party, Vänsterpartiet, and the Green Party, Miljöpartiet de Gröna. The political issues included were specified in a 121 points programme, and the cooperation parties established two cooperation offices within the Swedish government administration. The cooperation offices consist of eight full time appointments as political advisors each. There are several reasons to put attention to this developed form of contact parliamentarism. The cooperation offices constitute a new form of coordination between a government and its cooperation parties, which contrasts the norm. In addition, the cooperation offices change the organization of the government administration whereby important aspects of the highly institutionalized culture in the ministries can supposedly have been affected. Thirdly, it is of importance to the representative democracy if parties that are not in a government position, and therefore cannot be held responsible, turns out to have a great deal of influence and many possibilities to affect, or even set, the political agenda. This paper describes how the cooperation offices are organised, and, secondly, discusses the consequences of the establishment of these offices for the government administration as such, but also for the parliamentary chain of governance as a whole. The conclusion is that this form of developed contract parliamentarism can break the parliamentary chain in several ways. The contract has resulted in an increase of resources in terms of economy, information and informal contacts for the two cooperation parties. The cooperation offices have also given the Left Party and the Green Party increased knowledge and experience of the government administration. The contract has, in this sense, given the cooperation parties larger influence than perhaps can be justified by their representation in parliament. ; Regeringskansliet och samhällets organisering

Bergslagen in south-central Sweden is an informal region with a long history of intensive land use. The legacies of than 2000 years of integrated use of ore, forests and water major national and international economic importance now involve several challenges for the maintenance of landscapes. This includes sustainability of rural and urban communities, of green infrastructures for natural capital and human well-being as well as of forests, river basins and mining. In response to this cross-sectoral integration necessary at multiple levels of public, private and civil as well as academia and schools. Landscapes need thus to be viewed as integrated socio-ecological systems. Collaboration and continuous learning among actors and stakeholders are needed for sustainable use and management of landscapes' goods, services and values. To support this requires (1) data, monitoring and assessment of different aspects of sustainability, (2) continuous knowledge production about material and immaterial landscape values relevant for the management of ecological, economic, social and cultural dimensions, (3) information and communication using both traditional media, as well as (4) through art and culture. the vision to contribute to satisfying these requirements Sustainable Bergslagen initiative emerged gradually since 2004 as a multi-level partnership for sustainable landscapes (www.bergslagen.org). By joining the International Model Forest Network (IMFN), and the network for Long Term Socio-Economic and Ecological Research (LTSER), actors and stakeholders can learn from other regions' sustainable development processes, and make Bergslagen more visible internationally.

This thesis focuses on the territorial dimension of democracy by studying the division of Swedish municipalities. It consists of two parts focusing on two types of changes to the division of municipalities: amalgamation and secession. The consequences of a series of amalgamation reforms are the starting point for the first part. The question is if the new structure of the municipalities following from amalgamation, e.g. increased size, changed centre-periphery relations and an increased number of urban areas within municipalities, has had any importance for local democracy. The structural factors are looked at in the light of three aspects of democracy: municipalities as community units, their democratic legitimacy and political participation. This study shows that amalgamations can have negative effects for democracy and the conclusion is that the optimal division, from a democratic point of view, is one of small municipalities with only one dominating urban area in each municipality. As for secession, the study shows that few citizens want their part of the municipality to secede, except for those who live in parts that have had an application for secession rejected in recent years. The most important reason for supporting secession is that it would improve democracy. The main reason for opposing secession is that it would lead to decreased efficiency. The study also shows that certain conditions may change the attitude to secession, but these conditions cannot explain why a higher proportion than average is positive to secession in municipality parts that have applied for secession in recent years.

The view of networks has changed within the field of policy studies. Once they were considered as hampering the policy process, but today they are accepted as a legitimate policy instrument. The Swedish Government, for instance, makes use of networks to steer society. One attempt to do so is the Sustainable Municipality Programme launched by the Swedish Energy Agency in 2003. Five municipalities where selected to participate in this collaborative process to further sustainable energy policies. This thesis explores the potential of network governance theory as a model for describing policy making. A case study addressing three questions was conducted. Firstly, can the Sustainable Munici-pality Programme be described within the framework of network governance theory? Secondly, is this governance network successful in its struggle to achieve its goals? Thirdly, can this example of network governance further a discussion exploring a scenario where inter-municipality network governance might pose a challenge to the principle of local government? The first and second question is answered by focusing on four functions that the governance network should fulfil; to give priority to projects; to mobilize resources, to complete projects and, to evaluate the process. In order to answer the first question the case study focuses on the interaction within the governance network. Is the process organised in a fashion recognisable as network govern-ance, as an ideal type of coordination? The analysis shows that network governance theory provides an analytic framework well suited to shed light on the process. The analysis also shows that the three first functions were achieved. Through negotiations the network gave priority to different projects. The thesis focuses on three of these. The first project includes the education of maintenance person-nel. The second is a research project, investigating different actors' possibilities to plan for a more sustainable use of energy. The third project is a research project carried out within the field of physi-cal planning. The fourth function, evaluation, still poses a problem since the actors themselves are not content with the evaluation model they produced. In order to answer the third question the case study explores the notion of local government and how it can be safeguarded within a governance network. Two indicators are used to analyse this aspect of the process; the democratic anchorage of the governance network and the transparency of the process. The analysis shows that the process has been transparent and that local politicians have had an opportunity to meta govern the process. It is, however, undoubtedly so that the actors, or municipalities, gain influence over each other's policy processes. This causes discontent since local priorities get affected, sometimes negatively. In the end of 2007, four of the five municipalities decided to remain within the programme, or the governance network, for another three years. They are now joined by an additional 60 municipalities. ; Godkänd; 2008; 20080211 (ysko)

This thesis aims to explain how small states, in this case Sweden, security politics adapts to new circumstances after great conflicts in the 20th century. The analytical model is built by a combination of the opposite theories of international politics, realism and idealism, combined with actor based and structure based perspectives and thus creating a four field analytical matrix. The empirical foundation constitutes of three post conflict periods; post-first world war, post-second world war and post-cold war periods. For every period three cases are analyzed; one foreign politics initiative, one association to an international organization and one defence politics decision. In the post-first world war period the focus is on the Swedish intervention of the Åland archipelago, the association to the League of Nations and disarmament decision in 1925. In the post-second world war period the focus is on the association of Sweden to the United Nations, the Swedish initiative to a Scandinavian defence alliance and the defence decision of 1948. In the post-cold war period the focus is on the Swedish association to the European Union, the Swedish participation in the NATO led IFOR operation in Bosnia and the defence decision in 1996. The main conclusions of these investigations are that small states, like Sweden, both are restricted in their foreign and security politics by international structures and able to use the same structure to promote their interests. Time is a key element for analyzing both structural and actor based aspects of a small states capacity. Also, in the case of Sweden, there tends to be a tension between an idealistic dominated politics and a realistic dominated politics when it comes to foreign and security politics, and that idealism seems to have increased in the latter period.

This study in contemporary history describes the transformation of the public sphere in Sweden during the period 1969-1999, and analyses the role of information technology and politics in the process. The overall aim of the study is to explain how, and why, the public sphere in Jürgen Habermas sense has deteriorated during a period of rapid technological and political change, when increasing attention has been given to information technology as a new tool for improving democracy and empowering citizens. Theoretical inspiration is drawn from two perspectives within the modern history of technology and sociology of technology; the LTS (Large Technical Systems) and STS (Science, Technology and Society) approaches, as well as from the regime theory concept within political science. This multidisciplinary framework provides the theoretical basis for the study, including terms as socio-technical systems, system builder, technification, interpretative flexibility, stabilization, closing and regime change. In addition, the analysis draws upon previous research in economic history, where focus often has been on the important role of institutions. The term path dependence is central in this tradition. The starting point for the study is the process of a mutual legitimization between citizens and political actors that traditionally has taken place within the public sphere. In return for citizens support and trust, political actors have granted format rights to the public space. Two aspects of this interdependence are addressed: Freedom of speech and citizen's access to public information, and their access to arenas where an exchange of political ideas and opinions is taking place. In the study, the former is a question of the legal system and the limits to freedom of speech in new medias such as the Internet, while the latter concerns citizen's technical means and possibilities to connect to electronic networks. Research interest is concentrated on the formal political system, focusing both actors and structural factors such as technological development, media convergence, ideological change and international integration in the transformation process. Four case studies of institutional changes during formative moments, within what is defined as the legal and the technical infrastructures, are conducted and represent the empirical base of the thesis. The case studies are centered on Swedish governmental commissions, on the government itself and on proceedings in the parliament, and concerns formation and transformation of computer law, as well as the deregulation and privatization of the technical infrastructure. In the latter process Televerket (Swedish Telecom) has been an influential promoter of competition and institutional separation between tele- and data communications, representing a major regime change in favour of market relations in the technical infrastructure. In the area of computer law, the Swedish regime dominated by SCB (Statistics Sweden) was incorporated into a joint European data protection regime, resulting in limitations of freedom of speech on the Internet. These regime changes have also transformed the role of the state, constituting a "net watchers state". Another important finding is that promotion of democracy and improvement of access to the public sphere, never was on the agenda in the political transformation processes studied, although a parallel discourse on democracy and information technology existed throughout the period studied.

Biodiversity loss can degrade ecosystems and impactthe ability of ecosystems to contribute to people. The last 20 years of ecosystem service research has increased society's interest in fighting the consequences of ecosystem degradation. During the last decades, attitudes towards conservation have been shaped in many ways. According to Mace (2014), "nature for itself" was a key principle during 1960s–1970s supporting concepts such as protected and wilderness areas. Human pressures on nature during the 1980s and early 1990s resulted in extinctions, habitat loss, and pollution, which made it urgent to act for"nature despite of people". That period was followed by a "nature for people" period, in which biodiversity challenges were mainstreamed via concepts such as ecosystem approach, ecosystem services and economic values. The latest paradigm, which was developed by Mace (2014) is called "people and nature". Key concepts in conservation circles include environmental change, resilience, adaptability and socio-ecological systems. Several assessments of the state and trends of biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services have been carried out via various initiatives, such as Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA, 2005), followed by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) assessments and the Aichi biodiversity targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In Europe, Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) has generated a lot of new knowledge on the quantification of ecosystem services and use of this information in decision-making. Today, more and more open data is available through research infrastructures, for example, remote sensing data through the Copernicus programme of the European Union and European Space Agency. Naturebased solutions and green and blue infrastructure are becoming popular in landscape planning and highlight different aspects of the socio-ecological (synon. coupled human-environment) systems and their sustainable management. The most significant attempt to highlight the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services globally, has been the establishment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). IPBES has launched a series of thematic and geographical assessments. The European and Central Asian regional assessment has been ongoing parallel to this Nordic IPBES-like assessment that has focused on coastal ecosystems and their services. This assessment covers the Nordic countries, i.e. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and autonomous areas such as Åland, Faroe Islands and Greenland, which are a unique "biocultural" piece of Earth with unique nature values and well-established societies.

The thesis concentrates on Hofors and a local trade union environment between 1917 and 1946, where important parts of the trade union's power were held by parties to the left of the social democrats. The overall aim is to problemize and discuss the issue of what characterised and made possible this deviation from the usual picture of a trade union movement dominated by social democracy. What characterised the conditions in such a local trade union environment and to what extent can local norms and political culture be linked to the conditions and the development in the trade union movement in Hofors? The factors behind the radicalism in Hofors can be found in the local union and political context. The investigation points out the following main reasons: the left-wing local council of the Social Democratic Party and its successors' organisational lead, the local labour council's working method being close to what has been considered "social democratic", their representatives being highly trusted in the local community, and the growth of a local radical tradition. The political culture and the norms that gradually developed were based on a left-wing social democratic tradition. The local council of the Social Democratic Party that left the party in 1917 to join the left-wing social democratic faction was the same local council, despite their names and change of parties in the 1920s and 1930s. It became the local labour movement's bearer of traditions and represented the continuity in the local trade union environment, which contributed to the leftwing socialist project being long-lived in Hofors. The central aspects were the trade union work and the practical-concrete tradition that developed. Primarily through successful trade union work, the local labour council and its trade union representatives gained strong and long-term support from a large proportion of the local trade union movement's members and the population of Hofors. Against this background it may be stated that, even though it was often impossible for the parties to the left of social democracy to maintain a local trade union and political power position that was stronger than that of the social democrats for a lengthy period of time, it was not entirely impossible. It may also be stated that for the trade union member as such, a communist or socialist party affiliation was not a real obstacle in the election of shop stewards. Their focus was primarily put on the would-be representatives' personal qualities and ability to live up to the demands and expectations placed on them by the members, and not so much on their ideological persuasion.

In recent years knowledge has been brought forward as an important political issue both in the EU and in Sweden. It is said to be of the uttermost importance not just for education but for society as a whole. As a result of increased globalization and a European striving for economic growth, knowledge has come to be associated with both individual and national competitiveness, and education and learning in schools and workplaces have become a political priority. In this global competition the EU has become an important policy actor in the educational field trying to create a common European education policy field. Despite this development, only a limited number of reports relating the European arena to Swedish educational reforms have been published. Against this background the aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the knowledge discourses which struggle for legitimacy in Swedish and European education policy and how these discourses relate to each other and change over time. The empirical material consists of a number of fundamental official policy texts produced by the EU and the Swedish state. The study takes its theoretical point of departure in critical discourse analysis using an analytical grid where production, content and communication are seen as three aspects constituting every knowledge discourse. The result shows a process of silent Europeanization in Swedish school reform where European knowledge discourse is being re-contextualised and in many cases re-interpreted without any declaration in terms of explicit references. It also confirms the general trend towards increased focus on learning outcomes and demands for measurability. Furthermore, the result shows how competition rhetoric dominating the EU contributes to an increased sense of crisis in both European and Swedish educational reforms. As a result of this crisis rhetoric the study shows how the proactive reform-perspective is being replaced by a retrospective where solving already existing problems replaces the planning of an ...