Suchergebnisse

In 2017, the Swedish government took the initiative to conduct a country­wide information campaign with the aim of informing the citizens on what to do in the event of a serious crisis or war. In this article the effects of this information campaign are studied through a unique panel survey with identical surveys sent out immediately prior to the campaign and two weeks after the campaign. Concerning the effect, the level of responsibility for civil preparedness ascribed to different actors increased after the campaign, including the responsibility of the citizens. This effect is significant. However, the study reveals no significant effect on the lev­ els of trust with the trust in different authorities and their civil preparedness remaining on a mid­level before as well as after the campaign. Moreover, we do not see any general proof of higher risk perceptions or higher fear of threats as a result of the campaign, with the im­ portant exceptions of fear of measures to destabilise democracy and severe power cuts. In the article it is argued that despite current trends of strong individualisation with effects on media consumption and respect for authorities, the Swedish campaign illustrates that it is still possible to reach the greater part of the population with vital information and also, to at least some extent, affect attitudes.

This article focuses on the Swedish literary canon debate preceding the Swedish government elections in September 2006. The debate was instigated by an article written by liberal politician Cecilia Wikstrom, in which she suggested reinstating an official Swedish literary canon. Wikstrom's article sparked an inflamed debate that took place in all major Swedish newspapers, stretching over a period of more than two months in the summer of 2006. Due to the article and the debate that followed, questions concerning culture and cultural politics were more prominently featured in the 2006 election campaign than in previous campaigns. In addition to analysing the different positions of the debate, this article also suggests that Wikstroms's article is an expression of an ongoing process in Swedish politics towards a more openly instrumental view on (national) culture and cultural expressions. Adapted from the source document.

The editorials, of daily newspapers are very powerful instruments of pol'al influence. We have tried to measure their influence on the occasion of the last 3 Swedish elections; the legislative elections of 1952 & 1956, & the municipal elections of 1956. We found that the editorials in a number of newspapers & the space devoted to pol'al articles were greater in socialist & peasant newspapers than in the liberal newspapers. Econ & soc questions are given special attention in peasant newspapers, & to a lesser degree in socialist newspapers, but receive little notice in the liberal press. On the other hand, the liberal press gives the greatest attention to cultural questions, while conservative papers also do the same, to a somewhat lesser extent. Foreign affairs are dealt with in a similar fashion by these papers. The conservative press is the one most prone to engage in polemics while the socialist press is least inclined to do so. It should be kept in mind that the present study has not answered the criticism of putting major newspapers at the same level as provincial publications. Similarly, limiting the study to editorials was necessary for practical reasons, though other articles undoubtedly also influence PO. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.

Focusing on national election campaigns in Sweden, this study examines how candidates' political networks may influence who becomes member of Parliament in a flexible list system. Flexible list systems enable candidates placed on a non-eligible seat during the nomination process within the party organization, to still get elected via the voters' optional preferential votes. The data used is derived from a unique survey including a total sample of candidates elected to the Swedish Parliament 1998–2014 via preferential votes after being placed on a non-eligible seat during the nomination process. The data also includes acquaintances to these candidates defined as their political networks. The method used to track down the network members, was to ask the candidates for acquaintances who helped them during the nomination process and the election campaign. The motivation, resources and recruiting networks amongst these respondents are compared to those of candidates, and their political networks, who, despite being placed on an eligible seat during the nomination process ended up losing a seat in Parliament as a consequence of the flexible list system. The analysis shows how dissatisfaction with the nomination process creates a motivation to use the preferential voting system in order to overrule the decisions made by the party. The result also indicates that the elected candidates and their political networks are more active within voluntary associations than their opponents. Furthermore, important differences in temporal resources are shown. Elected candidates can participate in the election campaign full-time and are able to take leave of absence from their ordinary jobs, while the opposite applies for the political networks. The political networks supporting elected candidates do not work full-time within the party to the same extent as networks supporting non-elected candidates. A suggestion for future research is to examine the importance of voluntary associations in relation to the use of preferential votes in flexible list systems.

This article focuses on political talk in the media. Taking the point of departure in discourse & conversation analysis the aim is to study relations & methods on a micro level in two forms of staged talk; the interaction in live interviews & the practices of quoting in edited news reports. The study of live interviews is based on programs broadcasted during the Swedish election campaigns 2002 & 2006. The study shows how relations of power are negotiated in interaction. Methods used by the politicians to deal with delicate situations created by the questions asked are analyzed. The analysis of edited news reports shows how techniques of quoting have been part of a process moving the stage of the political debate more & more into the media. Quoting is a flexible resource frequently used by journalists in the dramatization of news stories & the re-contextualization of others voices. Adapted from the source document.

The 2016 American presidential election has been described as 'a race like no other', with reference to the tone and nature of the campaign and the stark contrast between the policy platforms of the two main contenders, as well as the unusually high stakes involved for America, the transatlantic link, and beyond. The analysis contained in this memorandum discusses the foreign, security and defense policy platforms of Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump, the leadership styles of the two main candidates, and their respective approaches to transnational alliances and partnerships. In each of three areas of comparison Clinton emerges as the markedly more predictable, more competent and better prepared contender, also reassuringly focused on strengthening ties to close allies and partners in the coming years. From the vantage point of the global order, international trade, security and stability in Europe and the Baltic Sea region, Sweden is therefore significantly more likely to benefit from a Clinton presidency than from an administration led by Trump, and might even be in a position to forge closer ties to the United States in the realm of foreign, security and defense policy following a victory for the Democratic Party candidate on 8 November.

Electoral autocracies have become the world's most common form of non-democratic rule. In hegemonic autocracies in particular, where the president, or his party, always wins by more than 70 percent of the vote, the electoral process comes across as mere window-dressing. Still, both the regime and the opposition take elections seriously. Why? What role do elections play? The article deals with this question while focusing on the Azerbaijani 2013 presidential election, and consists of three parts. The first is a theoretical introduction dedicated to electoral autocracies and authoritarian stability. The next summarizes the election, stressing its purpose for the opposition. The third part analyses whether and how the election contributed to strengthening the authoritarian regime. The study concludes that developments during and after the election year are an illustration of what in previous research is sometimes referred to as the politics of insecurity. Even though the opposition "lost", the relative success of their campaign indicated that change might, after all, be possible. The regime, depending on regular multi-party elections for its democratic alibi, did not appreciate the uncertainty and tried to minimize it by using the "three pillars" on which authoritarian states' stability can be said to rest: legitimacy, repression and cooptation.

While the Right has, since the turn of the cent, seen the number of its voices & seats in the 2 chambers of the Swedish Parliament diminish regularly, 1928 seems to be exceptional for the success of this party in the elections for the second Chamber. The propaganda that was used may explain this revival. The study was made using 3 conservative journals which are considered to be representative. Pol'al & soc events of 1928 were presented as evidence of collusion between the socialists & the Swedish & Russian Communists. The question of royal succession, the opposition of the socialists to gov projects for labor legislation, the strikes in the pulp paper industry & in the mines (the latter supported by Russian unions), the issue made by the socialist of the mobilization of dockworkers, & the attitude of the socialists in matters of national defense-all of these were stressed in the 3 journals. All of them were used as evidence of the close regard for Sweden of the Soviet regime. During the election campaign, this attempt to magnify the issues took 3 forms: (1) the cooperation between socialists & Communists was violently denounced, (2) a social-democratic victory was considered to be a means for Communists to control the gov, & (3) the other bourgeois pol'al parties were also attacked because of their attitude in the preceding legislature. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.

How do governments cope with lurking crises that call for behavioral change among a wider citizenry? The global warming threat is a topical case in point. In this article, we explore the Swedish government response to the 1973 oil crisis, from which we draw lessons. In terms of policy instruments, Swedish policymakers deployed a twopronged, strategy. The government simultaneously initiated a package of quick/ soft as well as slow/hard instruments in the hope that the first package with information campaigns would be successful enough to make the second package with formal rationings redundant. The substantive goal was that the Swedes must save in homes, offices, and premises so that the large exporting industry should get the oil it needed to continue with full employment. The strategy worked. All pertinent actors, households as well as foreign oil concerns, heeded government persuasion efforts (sermons, a negotiated agreement) and took measures voluntarily. Why? One explanatory factor is the creative organization of the national crisis authorities. To a large extent, the strategy was implemented by organs stacked with a mixture of public agencies, private oil distributors and all kinds of organized non-governmental energy-use stakeholders to promote outreach, transversal co-creation, and collaborative governance. The government succeeded in its meaning-making efforts and created a strong narrative (sermon), which clearly pointed out the serious anticipated effects of the crisis in Sweden, according to which it became obvious that households and commerce needed to save energy in order to secure oil supply for industry to protect jobs and impede mass unemployment.