Whaling is a globally controversial topic, and Faroese drive-style whaling, grindadráp, is no exception. A complex common-pool resource (CPR) institution, viewable from multiple moral, social, economic and political viewpoints, grindadráp is a challenge to assess. Responding to calls to utilise more relationship-centred and multiperspectival approaches to studying CPRs, this article examines grindadráp utilising the theory of socio-cultural viability, which asserts diverse understandings of the world can be classified within a fourfold typology and that 'successful' institutions draw on all four social solidarities in dealing with challenges that arise. The analysis reveals how throughout grindadráp's history its place in Faroese society has been maintained through the enforcement of a largely egalitarian conceptualisation. However, in meeting various challenges around the distribution of meat, sustainability and killing methods, the institution has accepted solutions utilising alternative conceptualisations. It is this adaptability which has allowed grindadráp to remain a popular part of Faroese society, even as dependence on pilot whale meat has declined. The issue of toxins in pilot whale meat is found to be arguably the greatest threat to grindadráp, undermining the egalitarian foundations of the practice, the response to which is something that Faroese society is currently in the process of negotiation.
Social sustainability in urban places is undervalued in urban planning due to the intangible nature of the concept. By valuing lived experiences of place, this research connects social and environmental sustainability pillars to support planning for socioenvironmental justice from a citizen's perspective. The quality of the urban outdoor environment is explored in relation to safety and individual and collective efficacy for social wellbeing which contextualises the role of urban green space. This study suggests socio-environmental sustainability is related at an individual and collective level. Safe social environments can support place attachment processes and safe green spaces can support self-regulation of emotions that influences behaviours. The urban outdoors can be viewed as a social learning environment. An inductive interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) led enquiry has been conducted which suggests urban places for social wellbeing can be explained by a framework that integrates social and environmental psychology and spatial politics theories. This study suggests that place attachment is at the heart of dynamic social environments and influences social learning behaviours through vicarious learning and the manifestation of social spaces as framed by Scannell and Gifford's Tripartite Framework of Place Attachment, Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and Lefebvre's Theory of Produced Social Space. Designing for socio-environmental justice is associated with understanding human irrationality due to poor social and environmental quality. This research suggests the right to feeling safe and the quality of the urban environment, including safe green spaces, becomes an issue for the operation of democracy and facilitating self and collective efficacy, by recognising the invisible bricks that form urban places for social wellbeing.
From 1960 and onwards the Swedish tax system has gradually changed from mostly progressive to mostly proportional and heavily dependent on taxation on consumer goods. This dissertation aims to describe and explain the role of Social Democracy in this process by studying the forming and further development of the omsättningsskatt, later transformed to a proper value added tax mervärdesskatt (VAT), from an historical institutional perspective. Previous research has considered these taxes as mainly financing tools, linked to the building of the well-fare state. While taxes are crucial in the financing of public expenditure, I claim a more complex background to the consumer tax, thereby highlighting a neo-corporative income political setting, hitherto not paid attention to, between a Social Democratic Government and the Trade Union Confederation (LO). Empirically the dissertation covers a period from the late 1950:s up to 2006. Drawing on an extensive material, including protocols from the major decision-making bodies within the Social Democratic Party, I demonstrate how Social Democracy, in a constant interplay between the two power centres, Government and LO, has formed a tax structure closely aligned with LO income political goals of closing the gap between blue and white-collar workers. In the formative moment, LO agreed to restrain wages and was rewarded by targeted cuts in income tax, transfer payments and an extensive labour market policy, made possible by the new tax. In the years to come the resulting informal institutional structure was increasingly strained as tactical-strategical considerations tempted the Government to use the tax instruments for vote- and office-seeking purposes. Not without difficulties both parties, however, succeeded in upholding the informal institutional arrangements until 1986 when internal discontent within LO set forces in motion. Social Democratic tax policy, until now considered beneficial for trade union members, was rejected and in conjunction with an ideational paradigmatic shift towards supply-side economics, the institution was pushed towards a critical junction and a new institutional setting. The VAT-ties to LO were eventually cut, permitting the Government to align the VAT-policy with an overriding goal of office-seeking through alliance building. From 1991 and onwards a highly political- strategical VAT-policy has thus resulted not only in a differentiated VAT, but also in numerous tax cuts on minor items of symbolic importance to various political parties. The strategy has hollowed the tax revenues but proved successful in forging and upholding temporary political alliances in Parliament. The main empirical findings – the presence of a neo-corporatist income policy and the pursuing of a class-based tax policy – departs from earlier research and shed new light on what we call "The Swedish model". The institutional conclusions are, however, in line with an historical institutional perspective stressing the importance of a formative moment, path dependency, ideas as agents of change and the theory of gradual institutional development, a theory that might benefit from further theorising in the interplay between formal and informal veto points.
Background: Agriculture is among the relevant factors for the formation of cities and it has been an integral part of city life throughout history. Despite the increase in population growth, urban agriculture can offer a unique opportunity for improving the livelihood of individuals through the practice of growing food in urban green spaces. Nevertheless, maintaining urban green spaces as part of the urban fabric presents a unique challenge in an environment where there is a shortage of housing and urban space is limited for development. Allotment gardens might be seen as compensation for the lack of green space and private gardens in cities, especially in dense urban areas. However, due to the long waiting list for renting out, not everyone can get access to growing locally cultivated food and other benefits, especially people who are less privileged and cannot afford private gardens. Objective: The aim of this thesis, therefore, was to design a proposal for urban green space, Ekebydalen, to show how to integrate allotment gardening with other social activities. Also, as an input to the proposal, the history of allotment gardens and the theory of sustainable wellbeing was reviewed, and local public participation was investigated. Method: Literature was extensively reviewed in an attempt to identify relevant studies and better understand the context and characteristics of allotment gardens from a social and environmental context, the change in its land use, and accessibility; all in the perspective of the general development of urban agriculture and specifically in allotment movement through history in Sweden. Moreover, Site observation was conducted in a purposely selected allotment garden, Ekebydalen, Uppsala city. Also, an online and paper-based self-administered cross-sectional survey was done among 40 participants. Result: 6 different allotment gardens were observed and characterized. Based on the case study (observation), the Ekebydalen allotment garden was chosen as the main site for further pro-posal development. (60%) of the respondents in the survey were middle-aged (30 -50 years old) women (77.5%), most of them with university education (88%) and Swedish background (90%). Despite the participants has reported living in close proximity to the gardens, around a fourth of them reported having waited for more than six months. Gardening and nature interest (100%), socializing (15%), food complement (62%), and maintaining wellbeing (65%) are the motivation for renting allotment gardens. Conclusion: This thesis argues that the economic and wellbeing values of allotment gardens are perceived as highly significant compared to the social benefit that is allegedly seen less. Nevertheless, the social value can be seen as equally important if integrated as an activity with other social activities in a city, especially in urban communities that don't have enough space for gardening and are caught in their busy lives. Moreover, a design strategy was proposed to show how the allotment garden can be integrated as an activity for cultivation and recreation use (Cultivation park). This thesis has also implied that policy support, institutional recognition, and strong political will from policymakers and planners are required to bring urban agriculture into city planning for improving the quality of life for the people living and working in cities.
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.
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.
Discusses the problematic integration concept that in certain occasions mean equality, in others forced assimilation. A research is presented that will look at the concept of integration and whether the contact or the conflict theory is more applicable to the interactions between natives and immigrants in the Swedish society. The study will be conducted by surveys and interviews. L. Pitkaniemi
This thesis is about Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practice in Sweden. Impact Assessment (IA) is expected to play a crucial role in enabling democratic and enlightened decision making. EIA practice seems however not to be in accordance with best IA practice norms and legislation in many countries. We therefore need a more thorough understanding of IA practice and its outcomes and about what is gained through EIA and thus also be able to suggest, on a more profound basis, how the practice can be improved. This thesis presents an analysis of the two cases EIA practice on cumulative effects and the final disposal for spent nuclear fuel. The methods and approaches used are qualitatively and include literature review, document analysis, individual interviews and focus group interviews. The results were analysed using social psychology theory and community of practice theory. The case of cumulative effects clearly demonstrated that a positive attitude towards including cumulative effects was in place, but the conditions to change the knowledge base were not. In the investigated case for a final disposal for spent nuclear fuel it was revealed that a shared practice and social learning over time might result in difficulties for the authority in mapping out a clear role and identity for itself in relation to the proponent. It also showed that the shared practice that has developed between the industry, and the competent authorities, has over time resulted in the adoption of a shared understanding and similar perspectives, concerning at least two points. The first concerns downgrading the need to more thoroughly investigate alternate technical methods to the main alternative, while the second concerns the need to avoid delays in the planning process. Communication and the shared practice that has developed over a long period of time, can have a significant and not necessarily positive impact on power relations and thus hamper knowledge production, diffusion of roles and identities.
This dissertation analyzes the concept of democracy as it was used in the official rhetoric of the Swedish SocialDemocratic Party (SAP ) between 1919 and 1939. Theoretically, the dissertation relies on German Begriffsgeschichte, as put forward by Reinhart Koselleck, and Michael Freeden's theory of ideologies. Together, by supplementing each other, these theories offer a perspective in which concepts are thought of as structures that are under contestation and change due to socio-political circumstances. However, the formulation of this change takes place in relation to the linguistic praxis of each time-period, and renegotiates the relative constraints of established relations between concepts in language. The analysis shows that the profound changes in society provided impetus for a continuous renegotiation of meanings, allowing concepts to retain their explanatory power under changing circumstances, at the same time the SAP needed new ways to express what kind of society the party strived to realize. The SAP had been one of the leading forces in the struggle for universal suffrage, and when the bill, giving universal suffrage to men andwomen, was passed in the Parliament 1919 this meant a temporary cessation to a long and intensive political debate. However, the SAP did not consider the introduction of suffrage reform as the end of full societal democratization. Rather than seeing the reform as a terminal point, the SAP saw it as the starting point for the struggle for full democracy. The SAP did not limit itself to only one concept of democracy but instead used a number of composite concepts, such as political democracy and economic democracy. The use of composite concepts can be understood as a changing temporalization of democracy. Since parliamentarism and suffrage were seen as central components in democracy, the realization of these institutions meant that the concept of democracy lost its future dimension. Thus, the usage of composite concepts should be seen as a re-temporalization of democracy. The composite concepts pointed forward in time, toward political goals that the SAP envisaged realizing in the future. Concepts should not be thought of as having cores but rather, as suggested by Freeden, ineliminable features. An ineliminable feature is not of logical nature but has a strong cultural adjacency. By analyzing the ineliminable components of the concepts of democracy that the SAP used, it is possible to discuss whether the composite concepts should be understood as subsets of a whole or as separate concepts. The analysis shows that the composite concepts that the SAP used during the first half of the 1920s shared a number of ineliminable features, but that the commonality of these features started to disintegrate during the latter half of the decade, leading to a rather diversive concept of democracy. During the 1930s the disintegration ceased as the party was faced with new circumstances, for example the growing threat of international war and national clashes between different social groups. There has always been a close relation between language and society. However, the relationship does not follow a simple and clear-cut logic but a complex mixture of various factors at different levels, both within language itself and of society. When society develops, language also has to change if the ongoing process is to be understood. As this study shows, new circumstances require new argumentsand thus revised concepts.
The theory of social choice has recently benefited much from advances within the power index approach in game theory. One may start from the classical Wicksell framework of a unanimity regime & proceed to state the advantages of deviations from his model. A case can be stated for quantitative voting using some majority voting scheme, as it empowers the choice participants, also providing for blocking power. The power distinctions generated from the power index framework may be applied to the institutional evolution of the Council of Ministers with the EC or EU. It allows one to state in a concise manner the comparative advantages & disadvantages of alternative regimes for the European Community or Union. Tables, Figures, Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.
Holmberg, an anarchist & syndicalist, has indicated his beliefs in his writings. He has clearly come under the influence of Duhring, whose mark appears in many of his works. Like Duhring, he places a positive philosophy of the world at the base of his system, & is therefore opposed to econ socialism. His anarchistic position is also derived from the Swedish theoretician, Quiding, for whom the history of society is characterized by a fight for right. Finally, the last elements of Holmberg's beliefs is borrowed from the French syndicalists who, at first glance, seem to stress action, while Holmberg's socialism is pure theory. Toward the end of his life, the Swedish anarchist characterized his views by labeling himself a humanist & defining precisely the meaning of this designation. While Holmberg has not had an extensive influence, he occupies a unique position in the history of Swedish pol'al thought. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.
Albert O. Hirschman has observed a specific pattern of reactions against any attempt to change society. According to Hirschman, the rhetoric of reaction is limited to three alternatives -- perversity, futility, or jeopardy -- that will be the unintended & unavoidable effects of attempts to make changes in society. Therefore, say the so-called reactionaries, changes should not be realized. The objective of this study is to test the validity of the theory of Albert O. Hirschman. This is made by a case study of the media reaction of the call of the Attac movement for a currency transaction tax, the so-called Tobin tax. The study comprises an argument analysis of the editorial pages of five Swedish newspapers during the first three months of 2001, selected to represent main political & geographical dimensions: Aftonbladet, Dala-Demokraten, Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, & Vasterbottens-Kuriren. The result of the study is that all of the arguments are against the Tobin tax & that most of them follow the pattern of perversity, futility, or jeopardy. Arguments that do not follow either of these patterns are irrelevant or marginal. The study gives no support to questioning the reaction theory of Albert O. Hirschman. 3 Tables, 3 Figures, 2 Appendixes, 105 References. Adapted from the source document.
Economic and social conditions on Swedish farms have altered in recent decades, restructuring the sector, but the family farm is still the primary production unit. Sweden is often described as a role model in gender equality, but a gender-unequal situation in farming has been identified, posing a political challenge. This thesis critically assessed how gender inequalities are reproduced within Swedish family farming by analysing how the 'doing' of family farming, in terms of labour and material relations, is shaped and reproduced. This approach focused the analysis on relations of and in production, by placing labour and property at the centre. Other approaches yielded novel information. The theoretical frameworks of labour process theory, political economy, feminist standpoint theory and material feminism, provided conceptual space to examine the reproduction of gender inequalities. In mixed method research, two types of survey data, interviews with farmers and literature on occupational health and safety in agriculture were used to analyse gendered access to arable land and farming conditions; the Swedish agrarian structure and the gendered organisation of the labour process; the gendered understating of agricultural health and safety; and the temporalities of Swedish family farming. The results showed how gender inequalities are reproduced in the temporal and spatial organisation and structuring of the labour process and through unequal distribution of resources. Unequal access to arable land contributes particularly to the gendering of farm management, farm diversification and farm ability to provide household income. A spatial stratification was observed, with larger gendered differences in more productive areas. The farm labour process forms the diverse experience of time, space, economy and labour of men and women in family farming. The different spheres and socio-economic modes of the labour process puts men and women in unequal positions, with differing materialised experiences of family farming and farm work; its risks, problems and consequences. The findings highlight the persistence of family farming in the Swedish agrarian structure and the importance of gender mainstreaming in e.g. policy, education and risk prevention work. More research is needed on the gendering effects of renegotiation of the family farm concept and situated agrarian change.
This book is about the historical sciences' way of producing knowledge by contextualizing. It is aimed primarily at students and researchers in the humanities disciplines who work with historical perspectives. The book's ambition is to bring the reader into the actual making and show how contextualisation is an important element in historical studies at all levels. The book thus hopes to stimulate increased reflection and discussion about how we proceed when we interpret, create or reinterpret historical, cultural and social contexts. The book firstly provides an introduction to what contextualization can be and do when we encounter the past in the form of texts, images or artifacts. From the very first day at the university, students in historical disciplines end up in such meetings. Therefore, the first four chapters of the book are primarily aimed at students in the introductory semesters. What does it really mean to analyze, synthesize, contextualize or criticize - and how do the ways of working with the past relate to each other? And further, what historical times are we working with: do we read source material from our own horizons or from those of the historical actors? Is the source material part of a long story or a short one? And who decides the answer to such questions? Secondly, the book provides an in-depth discussion of the role of contextualisation when we create new historical knowledge. The book's later chapters ask questions about how contextualisation relates to historical theory and method, and sheds light on the activity of creating, arguing for, and reconsidering the contexts that give meaning and significance to historical source material. The most central lesson the book wants to convey is that contextualization is an ongoing activity. Human horizons of understanding are constantly moving in step with contemporary knowledge interests. There will always be new ways of understanding historical expressions, and that is one reason why historical studies form an important part of society's common knowledge base.
