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Political conversations are according to theories on deliberative democracy essential to well-functioning democracies. Traditionally these conversations have taken place in face-to-face settings, in e.g. party meetings and town meetings. However, social media such as Facebook and Twitter offers new possibilities for online political conversations between citizens and politicians. This paper examines the presence on Facebook and Twitter of Members of the Danish national Parliament, the Folketing, and focusses on a quantitative mapping of the political conversation activities taking place in the threads following Facebook posts from Danish Members of Parliament (MPs). The paper shows that, in comparison with previous findings from other countries, Danish MPs have a relatively high degree of engagement in political conversations with citizens on Facebook – and that a large number of citizens follow MPs, read posts from the MPs and discuss politics with them and other citizens via the posts made by the MPs.

Siden midten af 1980'erne har den tyske sociolog Ulrich Beck arbejdet på en stor, samlet teori om den tid, vi lever i. Han kalder sin teori for teorien om det andet moderne. En del af denne teori er teorien om risikosamfundet - den teori, som har gjort Ulrich Beck verdensberømt. Bogen giver en almen tilgængelig introduktion til Becks sociologi. Bogen forklarer, hvad der sker med mennesker, fællesskaber, politik, arbejdsmarked og stater i den aktuelle omstillingsproces fra industri- til risikosamfund. De enkelte kapitler i bogen er udstyret med oversigtsgivende skemaer, lister med forklaringer

Interview med professor i sociologi ved Ludwig-Ma¬ximilians-Universitetet i München, Ulrich Beck, der er en af de vigtigste stemmer i genopdagelsen af kosmopolitismen og i at formulere et politisk svar på globaliseringen. Interviewet diskuterer Becks vigtigste begreber og hans syn på EU som et kosmopolitisk projekt

Interview med professor i statskundskab ved London School of Economics, David Held, der har udgivet en lang række vigtige værker om globalisering, international, kosmopolitisme og behovet for en global demokratisering af de politiske og økonomiske processer. Interviewet diskuterer Helds udgave af kosmopolitismen og hans vurdering af andre tænkere inden for feltet.

Temaets tredje artikel – Boris Holzer og Mads P. Sørensens artikel "Politik i det refleksive moderne: fra livspolitik til subpolitik" tager Becks begreb om subpolitik under behandling.

This comparative study examines the everyday Facebook activities of all Danish and Spanish members of the European Parliament (MEPs), and the extent to which there is a real political conversation between citizens and European representatives. Through content analysis, it analyzes the Facebook practices of a significantly under-studied population (MEPs) during a non-campaign period (January 15 to February 15, 2017) while most of recent research has overwhelmingly focused on campaign periods. The results show that both Danish and Spanish MEPs are generously present and active on Facebook, but that they are less popular than their national counterparts. The study shows that Danish MEPs use Facebook in a clearly more dialogue-oriented way than their Spanish colleagues. Their updates often lead to conversations between followers, and they frequently take part in these political discussions, while Spanish MEPs tend to limit their Facebook practices to content publication, avoiding citizen conversation.

In 2013, the European Union (EU) unveiled its new 'Composite Indicator for Scientific and Technological Research Excellence'. This is not an isolated occurrence; policy-based interest in excellence is growing all over the world. The heightened focus on excellence and, in particular, attempts to define it through quantitative indicators can have important implications for research policy and for the conduct of research itself. This paper examines how the EU's understanding of excellence has evolved in recent years, from the presentation of the Lisbon strategy in 2000 to the current Europe 2020 strategy. We find a distinct shift in the understanding of excellence and how success in the knowledge-based economy should be achieved: in the early period, excellence is a fuzzy concept, intrinsically embedded in research and researchers and revealed by peer review. In the later period, excellence is more sharply defined and connected with a particular sort of knowledge that which produces breakthroughs; the result is that policy-makers have turned their focus towards directly steering and controlling what is increasingly considered to be the key element for success in the knowledge-based economy. This change is evidenced by the 'Composite Indicator for Scientific and Technological Research Excellence', its rationale and its components.

This book explores how the notion of the responsible university manifests itself at various levels within Nordic higher education. As the impetus of the knowledge society has catapulted the higher education sector to the forefront of policy agendas, universities and other types of higher education institutions face increasing scrutiny, assessment and accountability. This book examines this phenomenon using the Nordic countries as cases in point, given the strong public commitment towards widening participation and public research investments. The editors and contributors analyse the history and current transformations of the idea of the responsible university, investigate new innovations in the educational landscape and look into how universities have begun to organise themselves to become more responsible. Drawing together scholars from the humanities and the social sciences, this interdisciplinary collection will be of interest and value to students and scholars of the role and nature of the modern university, in addition to practitioners and policy makers tasked with finding solutions to address the competing and often contradictory demands posed by a responsibility agenda.

The emphasis on competitiveness and the knowledge-based economy in European policymaking has resulted in a heightened focus on monitoring and steering the science system, particularly through metric-based instruments. Policymakers' general aims of fostering excellent research and breakthroughs are shared by researchers as well; however, below the surface is a paradox that is rarely discussed. The political system and the science system understand and pursue these concepts and objectives differently. Through two case studies on high-performing university-based research environments in Denmark and Sweden, this article uncovers the ways in which highly successful researchers often behave in ways that run counter to policy steering attempts. They do this by shielding themselves and their research group from steering pressures originating in the political system. Using Luhmann's systems theory, the cases demonstrate why the relationship between the science system and the political system needs to be understood as a horizontal rather than a vertical relationship, and using concepts from organizational theory, provides a model and terminology for identifying and analyzing the types of mechanisms and strategic responses that the science system uses to shield itself from political steering pressures.

Abstract
It is generally agreed that researchers' 'local context' matters to the successful implementation of research integrity policies. However, it often remains unclear what the relevant local context is. Is it the institutions and immediate working surroundings of researchers? Or, do we need to pay more attention to researchers' epistemic communities if we want to understand their 'local context'? In this paper, we examine this question by using the International Research Integrity Survey with more than 60,000 respondents. Survey responses indicate that academics identify with both their geographical local units ('polis') and their more transnational epistemic or scholarly communities ('cosmos'). Identification with scholarly communities tends to be strongest. We embed the survey results in the academic literature by proposing a theoretical understanding of academics' 'local context' based on Beck's notion of cosmopolitanism and Durkheim's concept of solidarity. We conclude with considerations on how to successfully implement research integrity policies.

AbstractEducation is important for fostering research integrity (RI). Although RI training is increasingly provided, there is little knowledge on how research stakeholders view institutional RI education and training policies. Following a constructivist approach, we present insights about research stakeholders' views and experiences regarding how research institutions can develop and implement RI education and training policies. We conducted thirty focus groups, engaging 147 participants in eight European countries. Using a mixed deductive-inductive thematic analysis, we identified five themes: (1) RI education should be available to all; (2) education and training approaches and goals should be tailored; (3) motivating trainees is essential; (4) both formal and informal educational formats are necessary; and (5) institutions should take into account various individual, institutional, and system-of-science factors when implementing RI education. Our findings suggest that institutions should make RI education attractive for all and tailor training to disciplinary-specific contexts.