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In 1870, political science was established as an academic discipline, attached to history, at the Lund University. In 1877, a chair in history and political science was created. Twenty-five years later, it was transformed into a chair in political science and statistics. In 1926, that symbiosis was put to an end and political science was awarded a chair of its own. Pontus Fahlbeck, professor from 1889 to 1917, was a historian who developed into a social scientist with broad interests: political science, statistics, economics, and sociology. Several of his books were also published in foreign languages and he had many contacts with colleagues abroad, particularly in France and Germany. However, the critical period in the modernization of political science in Lund happened just after the middle of the 20th century, with Nils Stjernquist, holding the chair from 1951 to 1983, at helm. The dependence of history and legal science waned; the influence of social science, especially in its American version, increased. The result was a modern political science department with broad interests and worldwide contacts. References.

Recent advances in game theory and experimental social science provide insights for the study of corruption and abuse of power in local politics. We survey the evidence from theoretical and experimental research and illustrate findings and problems with two examples from a survey among local politicians and officials in Sweden. The most simplified theoretical models, such as the prisoner's dilemma, fail to capture the distinction between group loyal behavior at different levels. There are several grey zones between pro-social behavior and corruption. These grey zones can be considered corruption danger zones. While Sweden is typically seen as a non-corrupt society, there are several situations where local politicians and officials must make choices in these corruption danger zones. Both formal institutions and informal norms influence these choices, and the views among politicians can vary substantially regarding what behavior is considered acceptable. Communication, openness and public debate can help the fight against corruption. Adapted from the source document.

This text offers an overview over and a categorization of visionary statements produced by Swedish government agencies. The visionary statements are analyzed with respect to the values that they highlight, whom they pinpoint as the principal or initiator, and whether or not the visionary statement is limited to the agency's sphere of activity. From this discussion it can be concluded that the visionary statements among public agencies bears similarities with the visions used as management tools in the private sector. This similarity is highlighted by the tendency among the public agencies to emphasize economic values such as efficiency comparatively more than accountability and democracy. Since this study only covers official material retrieved form web pages it can draw conclusions about how the visionary statements are presented – and not concerning how they were initiated and developed. Nevertheless, the very existence of visionary statements among public agencies turns attention to the division between the politicians as policy makers and the bureaucracy as a purely implementing force – and to the question about where, when and by whom politics is being made.

Etablerade partiers strategiska bemötande av radikala högerpopulistiska partier(RHP-partier) står i fokus för avhandlingen. Syftet med avhandlingen ärrekonstruktion och analys av innehållet i de etablerade partiernas strategiskabemötande av partier som anses utmana centrala principer inom den liberalademokratin, såsom pluralism och tolerans, och vars närvaro också anses skapa ettdemokratiskt dilemma. Syftet har operationaliserats inom ramen för en svenskkontext med fokus på Socialdemokraternas och Moderaternas strategiskabemötande av ett svenskt RHP-parti i form av Sverigedemokraterna. Detmetodologiska ramverket utgår från ett kvalitativt perspektiv med fokus påintervjuer med representanter för de två etablerade partierna ochSverigedemokraterna. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats med hjälp av PSOteorin(Position, Salience and Owner-ship theory). Teorin visar hur de etableradepartiernas strategiska bemötande av RHP-partier kan relateras till 1) den specifikasakfråga RHP-partiet politiserar och 2) till vilken grad RHP-partiet hotar deetablerade partierna i fråga om väljarstöd. Avhandlingens resultat visar attinnehållet i de etablerade partiernas strategiska bemötande avSverigedemokraterna har förändrats sedan valet 2006 och att den sakfråga somSverigedemokraterna politiserat, flykting- och invandringsfrågan, är central förutformningen av de etablerade partiernas bemötande av partiet. ; The strategic approaches towards radical right-wing populist parties (RRP-parties)are in focus for the thesis. The aim of the thesis is reconstruction and analysis ofthe content of the established parties' strategic approaches towards parties thatchallenge central principles of liberal democracy, such as pluralism and tolerance,and who´s presence are creating a democratic dilemma. The aim has beenoperationalized within a Swedish context with focus on the strategic approachesused by the Social Democratic party and the Conservative party towards theSweden Democrats, a Swedish RRP-party. The methodological framework is builtupon a ...

Biodrivmedel blev efter millennieskiftet en alltmer prioriterad energikälla för EU och ansågs kunna stävja både klimathot och energissäkerhetsproblem samtidigt som drivmedelsproduktionen skulle gynna sysselsättningen i jordbruket. EUkommissionen formulerade 2007 ett mål om att ersätta 10 % av transportenergin till biodrivmedel. Snabbt uppkom dock en strid mellan en grupp av aktörer (miljörörelse och livsmedelsindustri) som såg biodrivmedelssatsningen som ett hot mot både miljön och livsmedelssäkerheten medan en annan grupp bestående av företrädesvis biodrivmedelsintressenter såg det som viktigt att behålla och utveckla EU:s mål för att rädda både klimat och miljö. Motsättningarna som uppkommit väcker frågor kring vilka logiker som legat bakom detta. Avhandlingens syfte är att analysera EU:s biodrivmedelspolicy, vilka aktörer och nätverk som har format denna process, vilka problem och lösningar som dessa aktörer och nätverk argumenterat för i processen, samt hur de har agerat för att mobilisera stöd för sina ståndpunkter. Detta har kopplats till teorier om nätverksstyrning, förekomsten av utlösande händelser i policyprocessen, resursberoende i nätverksmodellen samt på vilket sätt managementteori utövat inflytande. Metoden har varit att utifrån dokumentstudier rekonstruera det historiska förloppet och de aktörer som medverkat i processen. Avhandlingens visar att en förhållandevis liten grupp aktörer har haft ett stort inflytande över policyprocessen från det att problemen som biodrivmedel var satta att lösa definierades i slutet av 80-talet till det att hållbarhetsstandarder utvecklades och implementerades. Dessa aktörer har funnits i policynätverkens kärna och har som ett av sina centrala mål velat utarbeta globala regelverk för råvaruhandeln. De miljöorganisationer som medverkat i processen har genom resursberoenden till stor del varit underordnade denna grupp. Processerna har innehållit ett stort inslag av strategisk planläggning men även utlösande händelser som klimat- och livsmedelskriser har varit viktiga för att motivera politiska beslut. ; Biofuels became a prioritized energy source for the EU in the new millennium. It was believed that biofuels would suppress both climate change and problems with energy security, and would simultaneously benefit agricultural employment. The EU Commission decided in 2007 that 10 % of the energy used in transportation would be replaced by biofuels. This was, however, soon criticized by a group of actors (environmental associations and the food industry) that saw the biofuels initiative as a threat to both the environment and food security. The biofuels proponents, on the other hand, argued that it was important to maintain and develop the EU's biofuels objectives to save both the climate and the environment. These contradictions raised my interest to understand and analyze the logics that lie behind these different perspectives on the same issue. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the EU's biofuels policy, which actors and networks shaped this process, which problems and solutions these actors and networks put forward in the process, and how they have acted to mobilize support for their positions. Theoretically, I have applied theories on policy networks, the occurrence of triggering events in the policy process, resource dependence between actors and networks, and how management theory can be used to understand how policy develops. The main results are that a relatively small group of actors has had a strong influence on the policy process. These actors have been at the core of the policy community. The environmental organizations involved in the process have been subordinate to this policy community through resource dependencies. One actor network was formed that wanted to increase the amount of biofuels, while another was formed to protect the forest and soil from heavy exploitation. It took over 20 years before these contradicting efforts collided. This thesis concludes that the process contained large elements of strategic planning and that triggering events such as climate and food crises have been important to justify political decisions.

The concept of civil society has lately become fashionable in political as well as scientificcontexts. This article critically discusses the 'politics of truth' in A Persistent Democracy!, thefinal report of the Swedish Commission on Democracy. The argument in the article is that thereport over-stresses the importance of civil society and the role of individual responsibilitiesand initiatives against public arrangements and interventions, referred to in the report as statepaternalism. The report is making specific 'technologies of government' visible, as it is creatingcitizens as primarily 'moral human beings'. The problem with strategies to 'roll back theState' for the benefit of a civil society of this kind, is that they necessarily open up for inequalitiesand conflicts in-built in civil society. To deepen democracy presupposes a continuouslong-term struggle for changing predominant power structures and unequal distributionsof vital resources, material and non-material. In this perspective, the report of the Swedish Commission on Democracy does not offer an adequate answer to challenging questions forthe future of a vitalized Swedish democracy. ; Reprint ur Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift 2000 (http://www.statsvetenskapligtidskrift.se/section.asp?id=552)

Det partipolitiska landskapet i Sverige har på kort tid förändrats och migrationsfrågor är på allas läppar. Både i Europa och i Norden har radikala högerpopulistiska partier haft stora framgångar den senaste tiden men bemötandet av dessa partier ser väldigt olika ut. Den här rapporten handlar om hur svenska tidningar på ledarplats beskriver Sverigedemokraterna (SD) och jämför med hur andra radikala högerpo- pulistiska partier beskrivs i Danmark, Norge och Finland. I rapporten studeras även hur SD bemöts på sajten Avpixlat. Resultatet visar att den offentliga debatten och media knappast är enhetlig, utan ett parti som SD behandlas väldigt olika i olika mediala rum. ; The starting point of this report are the ambivalent views in Sweden Democrats' (SD's) role and position in Swedish politics. At the mid-point of its second mandate period since the party entered the Swedish parliament in 2010, no other party has yet attempted to move closer or to initiate talks and negotiations with the party. To speak figuratively, SD was still in the entrance hall, and there were no signs of invitations to enter the living room.SD's policy program differs from those of the other Swedish parliamentary parties, especially in the field of migration policy. SD wants to drastically reduce the number of asylum seekers, as well as to bring down the numbers of all migrants to a mini- mum, regardless of how many are currently entering the country. The party aims for a different Sweden, not only in the field of migration policy. They want a country with minimal elements of other cultures and religions and stress uniformity, foun- ded on the basis of what SD consider to be Swedish values and traditions.SD is an extreme nationalist party, and distinguishes itself from other similar par- ties in neighbouring countries by its history and by virtue of its previously strong ties with fascists and Nazi movements. Reducing immigration is thus, for SD, not just about preserving welfare, jobs and housing. The intention is to transform or rather ...

This thesis deals with questions of governance, control and discretion in state agencies. It is grounded on a case study of the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket), from its prelude in the late 1980s, to its start in 1991, through several governments, seven ministers and four direktor generals, up tp 2014. The empirical part of the thesis follows the periods of the four director generals. The study is based on a vast number of documents, supplemented with interviews. For the analysis, a model of governance and control was condensed from the literature. This model attempts to cover both the political governing of agencies and the internal organizational control of agencies. This model was furthermore developed into three ideal type control styles: Old public management/ Agency, New public management/ Actor, and New public governance/ Arena. Analysis showed that Skolverket started out as a new type of agency, resembling the ideal type of NPG/ Arena, but over time, with an increasing pressure from the political level, it gradually turned into a more "normal" state agency, at one period resembling the ideal type of NPM/ Actor but finally becoming more similar to the ideal type of OPM/ Agent, however with still strong internal traits of an Arena. Further analysis showed that the actual governance and control featured several crucial characteristics that proved to be of importance for the amount of discretion left for the directors and officials of the agency. These characteristics were the degree of 1) unified or plural value systems, 2) partial or comprehensive use of control "tools", and 3) high or low degree of specificity. These three characteristics were combined into eight different types of roles, each with a specific type and level of discretion, from the most restricted ("Authoritarian") to the most unrestricted ("Laissez-faire") and six other roles in between. It is proposed that this scheme of roles form a novel way of analysing the level and distribution of discretion in agencies.

This dissertation analyzes the changes in the way Swedish forest policy has been developed and implemented in the past few decades. Its primary focus is on the period from the adoption of new legislation governing forestry in 1993 to date, though the historical antecedents of the more recent developments are also discussed. The dissertation focuses primarily on the interplay between changes in the policy priorities enshrined in forest legislation and the changes in the steering and implementation means and resources available to achieve the aims of the recent forest policies. Various perspectives on public administration/public management are used to analyze the preconditions and opportunities available to state authorities to meet the environmental goals in forest policy. Furthermore, norm theory as developed within the sociology of law is applied to analyze how various categories of forest owners can be motivated to shoulder a greater responsibility for nature conservation and development and environmental activities. The tension between private forest owners? interests and public (both of the state and the public in general) interests, and possible ways around the tension also figure prominently in this study. Central to the opportunities for success in obtaining the more ambitious environmental goals in a ?regulatory? setting characterized by a levelling of the status between authorities and forest owners and decreased resources and coercive capacities on part of the authorities, is the prospects for ?soft regulation.? Here we see an emphasis on bringing new actors into the policy formulation, interpretation and implementation arena, the development of new networks, the role of information and advisement in producing ?enlightened self-interest? and common frames of understanding. Ultimately what is aimed at is ?smart regulation? via the use of various forms of flexible instruments in a context where a greater number of stakeholders are involved. Thus the role of ?regulatory? authorities moves towards becoming a facilitator, or a ?motor? that as a partner promotes collaborative structures and cooperation.

The purpose of this dissertation is to describe, explain and understand how slowness appeared when some decisions were made in the area of welfare policy and how this slowness was eliminated. The study focuses on major changes. It is argued that such changes follow another logic than small gradual adjustments. Four breaking points have been selected for a deeper analysis: the pension policy decisions of 1913 and 1994 and the housing policy decisions of 1935 and 1992. These decisions led to the emergence of fundamentally new institutional structures concerning the relation between the central government and the citizens. The study shows that an established institutional structure within a welfare policy area generated mental constructs and decision rules that governed political decision-making. This governance resulted in slowness in the form of lengthy decision-making processes. The fundamental institutional structure was being altered only when the mental constructs were broken down. A common feature was that the decisions were first made when discontent with the prevailing order became so strong that it overwhelmed the fear of a new institutional structure. The general tendency was also to shape the fundamental changes in relation to the citizens so that the changes could be portrayed as small. The established mental constructs are the determining explanation for slowness. The interest organizations played a secondary role, as their interests are shaped in accordance with the mental constructs. Their resistance was declined at the same time when the mental constructs were broken down. The individuals – agents of change – that constantly worked for the change of system in reality appear to be significantly more interesting than hindering organization. Their influence showed a recurring pattern.

Security challenges arising from hybrid threats and hybrid warfare, HT&HW, are today high on security agenda not only in Sweden but across the globe. Despite the attention and the growing body of studies on the subject, there is a lack of research bringing attention to how these challenges can be addressed. This article contributes to such an approach by sharing the findings of a project that brings together practitioners and scholarly perspectives on this subject spanning the threats themselves as well as the tools and means to counter them. The article outlines the Western response to hybrid threats and hybrid warfare. It is argued that there is no single response to HT&HW, nor to building resilience. HT&HW need to be addressed through a comprehensive, all-inclusive approach. Finally, the article outlines how we address these challenges in practice.

Avhandlingen behandlar idén om medarbetarskap med utgångspunkt från hur begreppet medarbetarskap tolkas och används. Syftet är att öka kunskapen kring idén och hur den tar sig uttryck i organisationers praktik. I den teoretiska referensramen har nyinstitutionell teori integrerats med teorier kring lärande och implementering. Strukturen i analysen utgörs av en metafor som behandlar hur populära idéer reser in i och genom organisationer. Centrala begrepp i tolkningen av vad som sker i mötet mellan idé och subjekt vid de olika anhalterna på resan är översättning, lärande och ömsesidig anpassning. Studien har genomförts i form av fallstudier vid ett statligt bolag och vid ett landsting där medarbetarskapsprogram bedrivits. Resultaten grundar sig huvudsakligen på intervjuer, vilka kompletterats med observationer och dokumentstudier. Resultaten visar att det skett en ömsesidig anpassning mellan idé och subjekt vid den studerade enheten i landstinget med ökad delaktighet, förståelse för varandra och ett förbättrat arbetsklimat som följd. Idén integrerades i hög grad i den vardagliga verksamheten. Vid det statliga bolaget passerade idén förbi utan några större bestående avtryck i de studerade grupperna och idén integrerades inte i den ordinarie verksamheten. Resultaten kan förstås med grund i hur programmen genomförts tolkat utifrån lärandeteorier och olika perspektiv på implementering. Genomförandet i det statliga bolaget kännetecknades av central styrning och snäva frihetsgrader vad gäller form och innehåll för medarbetarskapsutvecklingen. Vid landstinget var däremot behoven vid de lokala enheterna en grundläggande utgångspunkt för inriktningen på medarbetarskapsutvecklingen där delaktighet i idéutvecklingen och genomförandet av programmet var en ledstjärna. I översättningen av idén om medarbetarskap i ord finns skiljelinjen mellan personer på olika nivåer i organisationen, snarare än mellan organisationerna. Medarbetare vid enheterna ser medarbetarskapsbegreppet i första hand som ett kollektivt begrepp, där gruppens funktion är i centrum, medan de som representerar organisationsnivån i större utsträckning betonar individens ansvar och agerande. Vilket perspektiv och vilka intressen individen har ser ut att ha betydelse för hur idén uppfattas. Vidare kan den spridning och det genomslag som idén om medarbetarskap fått i svenskt arbetsliv, förstås utifrån dess samstämmighet med tidsandan och den generella utvecklingen som skett i samhälle och arbetsliv. ; The aim of this thesis is to increase knowledge of the idea of co-workership and how it is manifested in the practice of organizations. The point of departure is how the concept of co-workership is interpreted and used. The theoretical framework is based on an integration between new institutional theory and theories about learning and implementation. The starting point of the analysis is a metaphor about popular ideas travelling into and through organizations. Central concepts are learning, translation and mutual adaptation. The study is based on a qualitative case study with two cases, a county council and a state-owned company, where co-workership programs have been implemented. The empirical material consists mainly of interviews. In addition observations and document studies have been used. The results indicate that a mutual adaptation between idea and operation occurred in the studied unit in the county council, with consequences in the daily work, while the idea passed without any lasting impressions at the unit level in the state-owned company. These findings may be understood in terms of how the co-workership program was implemented, interpreted through theories of learning and implementation. The co-workership development in the county council was characterized by employee participation in identifying needs and choice of areas of work as well as a high level of integration in the daily operations. In the studied groups in the state-owned company, the employees did not participate in the planning, and the co-workership program was not actively integrated into daily operations. Hence, there were not the same opportunities for a mutual adaptation between idea and operation as we found in the unit at the county council. In translating the idea into words, differences were found mainly between people at different levels in the organizations. At the organizational level co-workership was viewed as an individual concept emphasizing the responsibility and actions of the individual. Employees in the studied units, on the other hand, mainly expressed co-workership as a collective concept, focusing on the team and how it functions. The interpretation of the concept seems to be connected to the perspective of different parties within the organizations. Furthermore, the spread and the popularity of the idea of co-workership in Swedish working life can be understood in terms of the ideas correspondence with the current zeitgeist, and in relation to the general development going on in society and working life.

It is argued that political-administrative organizations are becoming increasingly complex with more horizontal governance required. In Swedish municipal administration, there is a group of administrators assigned the task of monitoring and promoting strategic topics that should be integrated horizontally within the organization. Examples of strategic topics are sustainability, safety/security, diversity, children/youth, public health, human rights, and gender equality. In the thesis, these administrators are called cross-sector strategists. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how cross-sector strategists become a part of the political-administrative organization when representing, enacting, and reflecting on values in the undertaking of their formal posts. They are situated between the tradition of vertical governance, with formal procedures and hierarchy as its foundation, and the tradition of horizontal governance, with informal networks and deliberation as its foundation. Previous research has shown that this is likely to give rise to value conflicts, and the question is if cross-sector strategists experience value conflicts, and if so, how they cope with them. The cross-sector strategists are studied in this thesis from the perspective of situated agency – focusing on both the contextual expectations of the cross-sector strategists and on their internal reflections to solve value conflicts – in order to explore their process of becoming a part of the local government administration. A mixed-methods design is applied, containing analysis of job advertisements for cross-sector strategists, public managers, and social workers; in-depth interviews with cross-sector strategists; and a survey of professional networks for cross-sector strategists. The results show that cross-sector strategists are subjects to ambivalent and often-contradictory contextual expectations. Cross-sector strategists use the ambivalence of their work for their strategic purposes, and such ambivalence allows them to reframe their topics, their methods, their arguments, and their identity according to current situation in order to increase the impact of their assigned topics and diminish the inner conflict of wanting to be both a responsive bureaucrat and an active lobbyist. Combining these two dedications requires them to be highly reflexive and flexible actors. The outcome of cross-sector strategists' coping with value conflicts can be interpreted in two ways: 1) as if the cross-sector strategists are a formal tool to safeguard crucial democratic and ethical values due to the cross-sector strategists' method of sneaking the strategic policy areas into the organization. Or 2) as a to democracy risky administrative behavior in the long-term due to the disguising of value conflicts and diminished possibilities to process these value conflicts

Rysslands doktrinella hierarki fungerar utan arenaspecifika doktriner. Det finns ett övergripande säkerhetsstrategiskt dokument, direkt underställt detta dokument finns den militära doktrinen. Ändå utformades 2001 en maritim doktrin som skall behandla det maritima läget och rysslands ekonomiska intressen på haven fram till år 2020. Varför denna doktrin utformades kan ha sitt svar i Rysslands ökade maritima intresse i och kring ryskt havsterritorium, men det kan även vara ett sätt att visa sina officiella ställningstaganden, intressen och intentioner öppet för världssamfundet. 2010 publicerades ett nytt säkerhetsstrategiskt dokument och samma år offentliggjordes även den nya militäradoktrinen. Det utformades i samma veva även en strategisk Arktisk doktrin som tillkännagav Rysslands intentioner och intressen i denna nya och oexploaterade region som tack vare jordens förhöjda medeltemperatur de senare åren har öppnat upp nya områden. Många nationer har blivit intresserade av detta nya område, bland annat USA, Kanada, Danmark och Norge. Detta har i sin tur skapat en grogrund, för tvister om gränsdragningar och om vem som har rätten till resursextraheringen i området. Det som detta arbete kommer att avhandla är, vad den äldre ryska maritima doktrinen har haft för inverkan påde senare utvecklade doktrinerna. Vad finns det för skillnader, likheter och vilka punkter har höjts till en merbeslutad nivå? Utifrån dessa kriterier kommer sedermera en estimering, om vad dessa variabler kan ha förinverkan, på ryska marinstridskrafters uppträdande i Arktis regionen i ett framtidsperspektiv. ; Russian doctrine on set hierarchy works without specific arena doctrines. There is a comprehensive security strategy document, and as a direct subordinate to this document is the military doctrine. Yet in the year of 2001 a maritime doctrine was developed to deal with the maritime situation and Russia's economic interests in the seas until 2020. Why this doctrine was designed might have its answer in Russia's increased interest in maritime ...