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This thesis aims at investigating the relationship between citizens' attempts to influence decision-making in a democracy and the representativeness of policy outcome. The question is to what extent the degree of citizen political activity, in terms of expressing policy preferences, affects: 1. The policy agreement between citizens and their elected representatives. 2. The perceptual accuracy of citizen opinions among representatives. It is argued that both policy agreement and perceptual accuracy are potentially important prerequisites to attain responsiveness in a democratic political system. The important normative question of the thesis is based on the fact that citizen's attempts to influence public decision-making often seems to be biased in favour of social groups already rich in resources. If political participation is socially biased the question is if this participation also will cause a bias in the opinions articulated towards decisionmakers and in the end also in a biased political influence. Earlier research on the topic of this thesis has basically been limited to the classical study published by Sidney Verba and Norman H. Nie in 1972: Participation in America. Political democracy and social equality. In order to examine this issue further, a survey was conducted in 40 Swedish municipalities. Included was a random sample of citizen from each municipality as well as a sample including all elected councilors in the municipalities. The effects of four different channels of citizen preference articulation is examined 1) participation in local elections, 2) non-electoral political participation, 3) activities and membership in voluntary associations and 4) everyday contacts between citizens and their elected representatives. The results of the empirical analyses show that electoral participation does not have a positive effect on either policy agreement or perceptual accuracy in Swedish municipalities. The main tendency as regards the non-electoral channels of citizen preference articulation indicates a linear and positive effect on the policy agreement between citizens and representatives but no similar positive effect on the perceptual accuracy.

The paper analyses the role of ideas, past experience and crises in the process leading to theoretical and political disputes and the changes of monetary and banking policy in Sweden in 1844/45. It also analyses the role of institutional settings and types of actors involved in the decision-making process. A comparative approach is deployed. Policy changes at the time in the poor and peripheral Sweden is contrasted with the well-known developments in England. The results suggest that current events and past experience were important factors. Purely theoretical considerations played a somewhat lesser role in determining the policy-change. Institutional peculiarities and country characteristics did not significantly alter the core outcomes, but certain specific features. Probably an influx of ideas, policies and experiences from England also influenced policy choices in the case of Sweden.

It is important for public administration to make qualified guesses about the future. The public administration does therefore conduct evaluations of their own activities, which later can be a basis for political decision-making. To be able to scrutinize & value results from these evaluations it is important to focus on how evaluations arc made in public administration. One neglected field of research is how evaluators in public administration justify the desirable in self-evaluations & what values the justification is built on. In order to do empirical studies of how the desirable is justified a model of analysis is necessary. The model presented in this article is based on the division between intuition & explanation, where the latter is further divided into deontological, teleological & character-based explanations. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

In the public and academic debate, the liberalization of Swedish school policy is often equated with privatization and -- to a lesser degree -- differentiation. The first is associated with the rapid growth of a semi-private free school sector, driven by slogans such as freedom of choice, cost-efficiency, parental influence and market competition. The second is associated with the decentralization of power and goal- oriented governance, aiming to achieve a variegated and flexible school system that is better equipped to meet individual needs, interests and preferences. The article examines this widespread conception of the liberalization of Swedish school policy. More precisely, the objective is to position central school policy developments over the last two decades in the liberal field through a tripartite typology. I argue that the mainstream conception exaggerates the privatization type of liberalization, while neglecting another, less visible but very influential type -- namely universalization. Adapted from the source document.

On 1 January 1995 Sweden became member of the European Union. This basic fact is not mentioned in Sweden's fundamental law. Nor does the Swedish constitution have anything to say about the important changes to the practice of public policymaking that have taken place since Sweden joined the EU. At the same time, it is indeed apparent that the basic rules of the political game in Sweden have been transformed dramatically after EU accession. This constitutional change, however has taken place without any substantial changes being made to the wording of the most important of Sweden's four fundamental laws, i.e., the Instrument of Government (regeringsformen). Constitutional change can be brought about in two different ways: Constitutional amendment, or explicit constitutional change, refers to a change of the rules of the game which implies a modified wording of the constitutional text. Constitutional alteration, or implicit constitutional change, means the constitutional document itself remains unaltered while its meaning is changed through judicial interpretation or legislative action. How frequently used are these different methods when it comes to the constitutional changes brought about by EU membership? How can we explain the differences between member states? How can these competing methods for constitutional change be normatively justified? Is one of them to be preferred? The research project "Hur regleras EU-medlemskapet?" seeks to answer these questions in a comparative study on how EU membership regulated in different member states. Adapted from the source document.

This thesis contains (1) a discussion of theory and methods in the contemporary analysis of political ideas (chap II), (2) a framework for the study of decision-making in the field of foreign policy, and (3) an application of the framework to the discussions about the dissolution of the Union between Sweden and Norway in 1905. The subject-matter has been treated in the form of a comparative study of Swedish and Norwegian discussions, as they can be followed in newpaper articles, pamphlets, and records of parliamentary sessions and party meetings. I have also drawn upon a considerable amount of private materials (diaries, minutes and memoranda). ; Fulltext för avhandlingen är en något reviderad utgåva från 2007 som motsvarar doktorsavhandlingen från 19 december 1971. Stavfel i 1971 års tryckta upplaga har rättats till. Se sidan 4 i fulltext-filen för mer information om vad som ändrats i texten.

The Swedish Sami Parliament is both a representative body elected by the Indigenous Sami people and a government agency under the Swedish state. Since its inception, this construction has been critiqued by the Sami people and Swedish governmental commissions alike: the Sami Parliaments dual roles are seen to be in fundamental conflict with one another. This article provides the first empirical study of the political and practical consequences of these conflicting roles. Using in-depth interviews with politicians and civil servants at the Sami Parliament, representatives of Sami organisations, and civil servants at the Swedish ministries, we analyse the extent to which the Sami Parliament is able to perform its role as a government agency. We argue that the dual roles of the Sami Parliament create problems not only for the decision making powers of the Parliament as a government agency, but also constitute a structural obstacle to Sami self-determination. Adapted from the source document.

The Swedish Social Insurance Agency is an important part of the Swedish welfare state. The Agency has recently made a number of major changes, such as establishing a new internal organization and reforming processes for decision making. Many of these changes have been controversial. Critics have complained that the Agency shows a lack of efficiency, has failed to make payments on time, and has been too harsh in its application of eligibility rules. The changes have put the agency at a number of crossroads, many of them recurring from earlier reforms, in dealing with problems such as regional differences in the application of rules. In this article, some of these choices are discussed. The discussion departs from four dichotomies: uniformity-local adaptation; centralization-decentralization; specialization-generalist approaches; and closeness-distance. These dichotomies are illustrated with examples from the agency. The general conclusion is that although the change process has taken a rocky road, there has been a great deal of internal consistency in the combination of measures taken.

Has intra-party democracy deteriorated over time? A widely held view in contemporary party research is that intra-party democracy, especially in traditional mass parties, has deteriorated in the age of the cartel party. This common assessment, however, relies on insufficient empirical evidence, and is scrutinized in the article. The notion of a gradual progress towards the cartel party implicitly shares common characteristics with the classic theory of Michels. In order to investigate the actual fate of intra-party democracy, central aspects of Michels theory are explored over time in a critical case, namely the Swedish SAP. If intra-party democracy is declining, this tendency should be most likely to be observed in this case. Two internal decision-making processes, surrounding two major pension reforms – one expansion in the 1950's and one retrenchment in the 1990's – are compared based on criteria deducted from Michels. Instead of finding a decline in intraparty democracy, the results conclusively demonstrate major improvements. ; Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

The purpose of this article is to examine regional and local interest organizations and their participation in and influence on the field of constitutional policy. This is done by studying the Swedish Association for local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) and its relationship with the Committee on Constitutional Reform (2004-2008). A common assumption in the literature is that the policy process on constitutional matters is dominated by parties in government and parliament, and that interest groups do not participate. The empirical investigation presented here, consisting of a large number of interviews and analysis of official documents, shows that SALAR not only participated in the work of the Committee on Constitutional Reform, but also exercised some influence on the committee's final report. Therefore, the article argues that the view of constitutional policy as a purely party matter no longer is valid. Instead, the participation and influence of regional and local interests must also be recognized. Adapted from the source document.

In this report, we draw several background pictures and discuss a number of scenarios around the challenges of the local government sector in Sweden. The ambition is to raise questions, but also to question certain accepted notions of the local government mission in Sweden. There are no easy answers on the challenges and consequences needed and there is a great need of more research in the field that both can stimulate with new angles and work as a relevant basis for decision-making. The report begins with a description of the demographic development that affects the sector from several important aspects such as investment needs, skills supply and revenue and cost development. Then there is a discussion on how the spread in conditions between local government organizations may affect equality and how these conditions can build a sustainable future local government structure.The sector has its own opportunities to meet future challenges through efficiencies. A lot of work is needed concerning management, governance and organization. The last chapter compiles several issues that requires further research.

The thesis has two purposes. The first is to understand the organizational forms of the public administration when it participates in international rule making processes. The second purpose investigates democratic implications of internationalization of the Swedish state administration. A theoretical framework, combining theories of governance with ideas on resource dependence and a neo-institutional approach, is applied to three empirical cases. The cases follow decision making processes within the European Employment Strategy, The Kyoto Protocol for reduction of green house gasses and negotiations on trade facilitation within the WTO. The studied processes can be described as complex and fragmented, containing multiple types of actors and parallel arenas, complex technical material and bureaucratic processes. They were also characterised by the fact that policy was created throughout the course of the processes. They also seemed to lack an ending and were to a high degree bound by their history. The administrations' response resulted in an organisational form that is theoretically developed in the study – enclaves. Enclaves contain members from different organizations, both private and state organizations and the work within them is carried out in an informal and interactive way. They are de-coupled units with stable membership that is related to positions in the hierarchy. As opposed to networks, enclaves are not self-organizing but the membership is mainly controlled by state-actors. The second aim of the study is carried out through a number of indicators derived from the deliberative and the representative models of democracy. The blurring of responsibilities, the lack of transparency and the barriers for entrance into the enclaves made the organisational forms of the administration seem problematic in relation to the representative model. However other features of the enclaves seemed to support a more communicative logic of action, leaving the deliberative model more promising as a way of understanding the administrations' work as democratically legitimate. Still, the analysis showed that the deliberative model also faced some challenges in terms of lack of openness and inclusion of all relevant stake holders.

The number of pastoralists maintaining production systems with small numbers of traditional breeds of cattle decreased dramatically with the modernisation and industrialisation of agriculture in Europe during the twentieth century. While these pastoral systems were not compatible with agricultural industrialisation policies, they provide a far better match to current European Union (EU) policy with its emphasis on high nature values and various cultural heritage protection measures. Today, these farms can obtain EU funding for preserving natural and/or cultural heritage values rather than producing agricultural goods. Although such EU subsidies make a welcome contribution to the livelihood of traditional farmers, the critical definitions that have to be made regarding what is considered traditional or non-traditional can be problematic. This paper provides an example from Swedish fäbodbruk, a smallholder system of forest pasturing with traditional breeds of cattle, goats and sheep in northern Sweden. As policymaking and agricultural subsidies during the twentieth century reflected the contemporary political agenda of that time, farmers have been subjected to many changes in priority in political decision making. The contemporary push for traditional farming and heritage has made policymaking potentially even more difficult, e.g. as regards the question of what should be considered traditional and what makes up natural and cultural heritage. This paper examines how farmers are affected by valuations and assessments made by the relevant authorities on whether they are producing natural and/or cultural heritage.

In 1959, the Swedish Social Democratic Party prevailed over the bourgeois parties in the great battle for supplementary pensions (ATP). In the 1990's, however, the party leadership decided to abolish the ATP in close cooperation with the bourgeois parties. The thesis poses the following question: "What prospects did the Social Democratic leadership have to gain support for the ATP-reform in the 1950's, and then for the quite dissimilar pension reform in the 1990's, and how can differences between these prospects be explained?" In order to explain the kind of party change pointed out in the problem statement, this thesis proposes a theoretical perspective that focuses on the tension between different roles played by the party leadership on different arenas. The hypothesis, that is tested in the thesis, is that early decisions create different constrains for future decisions on different arenas. The thesis has two main conclusions. The first conclusion is that the decision to implement the generous ATP-system in the 1950's in practice laid the ground for the subsequent abolishment of that same system in the 1990's. The second conclusion is that the pragmatism, always displayed on the parliamentary arena, has not been visible on the electoral arena or on the party arena. The party leadership plays different roles on different arenas, and over time these different roles have become hard, if not impossible, to combine. The result of this was that decisions on the parliamentary arena were decoupled from messages and rhetoric about these decisions on the party arena, and on the electoral arena. The pension reform in the 1990's was quite a different decision compared to the popular introduction of the ATP-system. Both of these decisions, however, were attempts by the party leadership to maximize support on each arena. The possibilities for succeeding in this venture were greatly reduced in the 1990's. Instead of one party striving for one goal, Swedish Social Democracy in the 1990's appeared as two or three parties, with different objectives and goals.