Det moderna trust- och kartell väsendet
In: Kooperativa Förbundets Samhällsbibliotek
In: Kooperativa Förbundets Samhällsbibliotek
The relationship between politicians and civil servants is ambiguous and potentially problematic in democratic terms. The aim of the thesis is to examine this relationship in the Swedish core executive, Regeringskansliet. More specifically, the analysis emphasises the respective role expectations of the two groups when interacting with each other. The thesis is based on two extensive qualitative interview studies with politicians and senior civil servants, one carried out in the early 1980's and one undertaken more recently. Hence it also offers an opportunity to analyse whether these expectations have changed or remained stable during the last decades. The findings reveal that the role expectations of politicians and civil servants to a high extent correspond, and have remained relatively stable over time. The relationship between politicians and civil servants is based on norms such as (conditional) trust, delegation and yet relatively close interaction. If so, politicians are unloaded by the civil service in order to handle their external responsibilities. Although relatively informal, a passive hierarchy of roles ensures the superiority of politicians and more specifically of the minister. Civil servants adapt to roles taken by politicians, although providing guidance to the politicians on how to behave in office. The division of labour is not based on the different tasks performed in the policy-making process. Instead, politicians assume responsibility for all actions and decisions – also those undertaken by the civil servants – within the ministries, while civil servants offer politicians protection and security. Taken together these results indicate that the institutionalised norms that surround the relationship between politicians and civil servants are highly powerful. Nevertheless, the thesis also reveals tendencies towards a departure from these norms, suggesting that this relationship is to some extent fragile and exposed to various attempts at reform.
BASE
In: Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, Band 108, Heft 1, S. 74-80
ISSN: 0039-0747
Bo Rothman replies to Jens Stillhoff Sorensen's review of his book, "Social traps & the problem of Trust." He wants to further analyze three points raised by Sorensen: the view of cultural explanation in social sciences, the question about the theory of knowledge, & finally, if a researcher can strategically choose independent variables. Rothman is skeptical about the so-called cultural causes of lack of social trust. He also denies considering institutions as independent of the historical & cultural context. Besides, he considers himself not a positivist, but a "scientific realist." Finally he advocates for choosing those social variables that can be influenced with a purpose in mind. References. A. Barral
In: Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, Band 108, Heft 1, S. 61-74
ISSN: 0039-0747
The author reviews Bo Rothstein's book from 2003, "Social traps & the problem of Trust." Compared to Robert Putnam, Rothstein gives more importance to political processes & institutional arrangements. Studying the Swedish welfare state, Rothstein concludes that social trust is greater in Sweden than in other states, due to these institutional arrangements. The author on the other hand argues that institutions can both be a central factor to attain a new form of legitimacy & social integration, & be part of a deeper informal cultural structure. However, they can never be independent from the historical and cultural context. As generated by & themselves generating norms, they form part of "culture", but can never be treated as independent variables. References. A. Barral
In: Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, Band 113, Heft 1, S. 90-96
ISSN: 0039-0747
In a comparative perspective, Sweden is a society with high social trust, corruption, law and high political trust. Research shows that the presence of social trust in society is crucial for economic growth, corruption, law and functioning democratic institutions. A society with high levels of trust leads to positive effects of increased security, more economic equality, more tolerance, better health and increased ability to solve social problems of various kinds. Adapted from the source document.
In: Ds Ju 1979:4
In light of Sweden's exceptionally high levels of generalised trust, a widely argued view is that this country is well equipped to counterbalance contemporary challenges of xenophobia and build trust between diverse groups. However, while trust remains at high levels in Sweden, the same, somewhat paradoxically, goes for xenophobic attitudes. Therefore, the main question addressed in this article is why many Swedes report that they trust 'most people in general' while simultaneously displaying high levels of xenophobia. Drawing on unique survey-data, the article presents three main answers. First, the article shows that Swedish respondents place much more trust in their cultural in-group – which they tend to equate with 'most people' – than in their cultural out-group. Second, when relating these different measures of trust to respondents' degree of xenophobia, on the one hand, and their party preferences, on the other hand, the article shows that an overwhelming majority of the electorate report that they trust people from Western Europe, while only a minority report that they tolerate and trust non-Europeans. Third, and most crucially, the article finds that high trust in the cultural out-group is associated with tolerance, whereas high trust in the in-group instead appears to breed xenophobia.
BASE
In light of Sweden's exceptionally high levels of generalised trust, a widely argued view is that this country is well equipped to counterbalance contemporary challenges of xenophobia and build trust between diverse groups. However, while trust remains at high levels in Sweden, the same, somewhat paradoxically, goes for xenophobic attitudes. Therefore, the main question addressed in this article is why many Swedes report that they trust 'most people in general' while simultaneously displaying high levels of xenophobia. Drawing on unique survey-data, the article presents three main answers. First, the article shows that Swedish respondents place much more trust in their cultural in-group – which they tend to equate with 'most people' – than in their cultural out-group. Second, when relating these different measures of trust to respondents' degree of xenophobia, on the one hand, and their party preferences, on the other hand, the article shows that an overwhelming majority of the electorate report that they trust people from Western Europe, while only a minority report that they tolerate and trust non-Europeans. Third, and most crucially, the article finds that high trust in the cultural out-group is associated with tolerance, whereas high trust in the in-group instead appears to breed xenophobia.
BASE
In: Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, Band 107, Heft 1, S. 5-28
ISSN: 0039-0747
Social capital has been conceptualized both as a contextual property of communities & as a property of individuals. Two of the building blocks of the notion of social capital are social participation & trust. High levels of social participation & trust are reciprocally reinforcing with two-way causality, according to the literature. However, this mutual relationship is highly dependant on the quality of the social participation. During the last decades, membership & activity levels have decreased in traditional political parties, unions, & other organizations, while social participation in the form of Internet chats, single-issue movements, etc. probably has increased. At the same time the number of persons with a high level of generalized trust has sharply decreased in many Western countries, even though the trend is not apparent in Sweden. A high level of social participation in programmatically smaller networks & organizations with low trust has been called "miniaturization of community" by Fukuyama. The miniaturization of community & its implications for political science research are discussed, as well as the institutionalism perspective as an approach to study the causes of the miniaturization of community. Tables, Figures, Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.
The so-called Swedish model of trust is characterised by strong public support for the idea of an individual-based and extensive welfare state, well-developed state individualism, high levels of social trust, widespread appreciation of the judiciary, openness, tolerance, and a free and independent press. Today, Swedish society faces several challenges. Will the Swedish model of trust be eroded or is it relatively resilient to stress? A Novus survey from 2019 found that a total of 74 percent of the Swedish population were very or quite worried about Islamic extremism, 66 percent very or quite worried about right-wing extremism and 46 percent very or quite worried about left-wing extremism. Other surveys show that the public is also concerned about the deterioration of the welfare state, social gaps, the increased number of refugees to Sweden and xenophobia. Moreover, the Novus survey shows that 65 percent believe that violence-promoting extremism will increase in Sweden in the coming ten-year period. 22 percent indicate that they have become suspicious of people they have encountered in everyday situations and 15 percent have avoided large crowds, e.g. shopping malls, pedestrian areas and subways. When asked which measures are good for increasing security in society, common answers were to reduce social exclusion, increase camera surveillance in public places and provide more information on democratic principles and values. These answers indicate that Swedish public opinion has a relatively balanced view of public measures against violent extremism, which is consistent with the Swedish model of trust. In general, the public does not propose the implementation of overly excessive measures against violent extremism. However, given continued public concern over the development of violent extremism, the long term stability of the Swedish model of trust remains in question.
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In: Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, Band 109, Heft 2, S. 170-176
ISSN: 0039-0747
Confidence and corruption in Swedish municipalities Corruption in public institutions can seriously undermine trust and cooperation. Corruption prevention requires an understanding of the mechanisms which cause individuals to engage in corrupt behavior. Against this background there is a need to determine which types of institutions can stop confidence and cooperation from degenerating into distrust and corruption. Traditionally Sweden and its institutions have been seen as relatively free of corruption. In recent years, increasing media coverage and expert reports suggest that corruption in Sweden is increasing, but how accurate is this perception? Greater empirical knowledge is needed concerning the scope and nature of corruption as well as the extent, if at all, it is increasing. Many corruption studies have focused on countries in transition from a non-democratic to a democratic form of government. Literature has therefore focused on how trust and cooperation can arise out of situations characterized by the opposite. However, a useful corruption theory ought to be able to account for how corrupt behavior can vary over time. It has been pointed out that researchers lack a commonly accepted theory that would explain both how trust and cooperation arise and how they break down. The article's authors describe how, in their upcoming project, they propose to address this question. Adapted from the source document.
This paper developed a simple dynamic model in order to analyse the impact of social capital on violation of environmental regulations. Two main channels of influence were identified; through informal enforcement of regulations and through effects on costs from disinvestment in social capital caused by violation. The model was tested using survey data on enforcement and violation of command and control regulations at municipalities and counties in Sweden. Four different measures on the social capital variable were used; general trust, trust in local and national governments, and organizational activity. Count data models were used for estimating the explanatory power of these variables in relation to inspection frequency and control variables of community characteristics. Statistically best results were obtained for organizational activity for all firm categories. The results showed that both the level of this social capital measure and its growth over time curb violation.
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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.
BASE
In: Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, Band 110, Heft 1, S. 3-31
ISSN: 0039-0747
Political commitments in our time are often described as characterized by political de-collectivization & increasing individualism. In the article this polarity between individualism & collectivism is addressed. Empirically, it is based on a survey which 1066 global justice movement activists participated in. Among these, activism has both strong individual & collective orientations. Personal commitment & individual political action is emphasized at the same time as the activism aims at reforming institutions & is carried out in collective contexts, involving traditional political actors as parties & trade unions. Furthermore, this is done despite a low degree of trust in political institutions & traditional political actors, especially among activists who participated in the events during the EU summit meeting in Gothenburg 2001. Tables, Diagrams, References. Adapted from the source document.