Department of Political Science, Lund University: Research

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Entered date: 2013-04-15
From June 1, Annika Björkdahl and Martin Hall will take over the editorship of the Cooperation and Conflict journal. In 2011 its impact factor was 0.9 and it was ranked 28 out of 81 International Relations Journals and 48 out of 149 Political Science journals.

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Annika Bergman Rosamond will be acting as an external examiner of a PhD viva on public diplomacy and small states at Westminster University, London, on the 28th of January

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Annika Björkdahl has penned the article Towards a reflexive study of norms, norm diffusion and identity (re-)construction: The transformative power of the EU in the Western Balkans which has recently been published in the Canterbury Law Review.

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Jan Teorell har has received the Outstanding Reviewer Award by the Political Research Quarterly for his contributions 2011

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Jan Teorell har has received the Outstanding Reviewer Award by the Political Research Quarterly for his contributions 2011

Information about the award can be found on page 9 in the linked document

PhD workshop POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS organised under the auspices of the Nordic International Studies Association
(NISA) by the University of Tampere and the Finnish POLITU Graduate School in Political Studies Helsinki, 23-24 August 2012, 4-8 study credits (ECTS)

Political psychology is a relatively neglected field of study in Europe. However, recently there have been various signs of scholars and students bringing psychology back in the study of politics and international relations. This involves various conceptualisations and theories of identity, subjective views, cognition and emotion that draw on classical political theory, psychology and other social sciences.

The idea of the workshop is to draw on the state-of-the art discussion of psychological aspects in the study of international relations.
Different psychological approaches such as social identity theories, cognitive theories and emotions will be critically surveyed and discussed. The workshop will also discuss metatheoretical issues and methodological approaches to psychology of international relations.
The interactive format aims at integrating these discussions with the research problems and agendas of the participating PhD students. The key questions to be discussed include:

- what is the added value of psychological theories and
approaches in the study of international relations?
- how have psychological theories evolved and how should the
study of international relations relate to psychology?
- does every theory of international relations need solid
micro-foundations based on psychology?
- what are the cognitive biases that undermine rationality in
international relations?
- what is the role of emotions and subjective views in
international relations?

The course is meant, first and foremost, for postgraduate students in Politics and International Relations, but others with solid background in social sciences (including psychology), or interest in interdisciplinarity are also welcome. The student papers can deal with any aspect of political psychology in international relations or foreign policy.

Organisers: Jean Monnet Professor Pami Aalto, School of Management/Politics and IR, University of Tampere, Finland. Professor Catarina Kinnvall, Department of Political Science, Lund University,

Location: Helsinki, House of Sciences, Kirkkokatu 6, lecture room 505.

Entry: For registration, send an abstract with name, affiliation and contact information before 1 July 2012 to Saara Särmä <saara.sarma@uta.fi>. Maximum number of students is twenty (20); however, lectures are open to everyone.

For more information about travel grants, full programme and requirements, see link below

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John Hultén defends his thesis New Road to New Roads and Railways. Financial Pragmatism and Planning Rationalism in Decision-making on Infrastructure Investments, May 25 (10 AM) in the Eden Auditorium. Faculty opponent: Associate professor Patrik Hall, Malmö University College

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Investment planning is a decision-making process with specific characteristics. It is often seen as a rational quest for solutions that are in the public interest, and the dominant discourse tends to be technical and economic. Public documents reproduce this picture of a decision-making process based on rationalist premises where analytical methods and objective facts form the basis for decisions. Behind this purely rationalist façade, however, planning is also a highly political process where various actors try to impose their will on others. This aspect of the planning process is characterised by a less rationalist and more pragmatic way of thinking. The overall aim of the dissertation is to explore the tension between rationalism and pragmatism in decision-making and to investigate the manifestations of these aspects in the instruments that govern planning processes. Special emphasis is placed on decision-making processes involving multiple tiers of government.
The research presented in the dissertation has been carried out as a case study of the planning of road and railway investments in Sweden. One part of the empirical analysis focuses on the historical-institutional development of investment planning from its introduction in the 1950s to the present day, with a special focus on the planning instruments involved. A second part of the analysis focuses on the decision-making process that resulted in a major investment plan presented in March 2010, with special emphasis on local and regional co-financing as a new and highly pragmatic instrument used in the process. The dissertation shows that a shift towards more pragmatic views has taken place during the last couple of decades. New financial arrangements are an indication of such a dynamic change.

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Mikael Sundström is one of the authors of the article Leadership and the Psychology of Awareness: Three Theoretical Approaches to Information Security Management which has recently been published in the Organization Management Journal

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The Focus Asia symposium takes place 8-9 May and focuses on three countries - Burma/Myanmar, Laos and North Korea.The lectures are open to the general public and entry is free of charge

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Anders Persson has authored the article Building a state or maintaining the occupation? International support for Fayyad’s state-building project which has recently been published in the Journal of Conflict Transformation and Security

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, state-building has developed into an integral part of peacebuilding. International support, primarily from the EU and the US, for Palestinian institution-building has been a prime example of this development but, so far, neither peace nor a Palestinian state has emerged. A growing number of critics has instead begun to claim that this support is maintaining Israel’s occupation rather than contrib-uting to a genuine peace process and a future Palestinian state. This article examines these claims by looking at the achievements and failures of Palestinian institution-building and the role of the international community in the process. The main conclu-sion is that while the PA, supported by the EU, the US and the rest of the international community has acted illiberally and to some extent maintained the occupation, it is hard to see how the occupation can otherwise come to an end if there are no Palestin-ian institutions, no security sector reforms, no rule of law and no applications of good governance in the West Bank; all of which require cooperation with Israel and the oc-cupation at this stage.

Link below to full text document on the journal’s site

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Karin Bäckstrand is a member of a research team that has penned the article Navigating the Anthropocene: Improving Earth System Governance which has recently been published in Science

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Karin Bäckstrand has authored a chapter titled The Democratic Legitimacy of Global Governance After Copenhagen in the recently published Oxford Handbook on Climate Change and Society (Oxford University Press)

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The School of Global Studies (SGS) at the University of Gothenburg are looking for:

• University lecturer in Peace and Development Research (International Relations) (REF NR PERM 2011/243)
• University lecturers in Peace and Development Research (2) (Development Studies) (REF NR PERM 2011/242)
• University lecturer in Social Anthropology (REF NR PERM 2011/241)
• University lecturer in Human Ecology (REF NR PERM 2011/244)

The School of Global Studies is a creative and innovative environment for research and education in globalisation and global issues. We are looking for people who would find it stimulating to work within the School’s dynamic interdisciplinary forums. Together with holders of other positions at the School in Social Anthropology, Peace and Development Research, Human Ecology, Regional Studies and the study of Human Rights, the holder of these positions will form part of a team whose primary responsibility is to work with the development of education and research within the School’s various subject areas as well as in the consolidation of the cross-disciplinary research groups (http://www.globalstudies.gu.se).

Beyond the responsibilities in teaching at various levels, lecturers are expected to participate in the department’s activities in pedagogical development and, when required, in administration and management. Since external funding provides important support for the research activities of individual teachers and of the School in general, the holder of this position will be expected to work actively to attract external funding.

The University of Gothenburg is one of the major universities in Europe, with about 39 000 students and a staff of 5 700. The academic work is organized into several faculties, a majority of which are based in the central parts of Gothenburg. Education and research are wide ranging and of high quality – as indicated by both by high numbers of applicants and Nobel prizes received.

Details and guidelines for applications can be found on University webpage:
http://www.gu.se/omuniversitetet/aktuellt/ledigaanstallningar/lediga-anstallningar-legacy/

Closing date for application is 02 January 2012.

Fredrik Söderbaum
UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG
School of Global Studies
POB 700, SE 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden

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Entered date: 2011-11-18
Annelie Schlaug moderates an open discussion in the series Racism re-raced following PhD Sayaka Osanami Törngren’s lecture Love ain´t got no color? 23/11 2011, 18:30 at Vänskapens hus, Bredgatan 19, Lund. Free entrance and fika. Organizer: TSiL (Tamams Studentförening i Lund)

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Entered date: 2011-11-15
Catarina Kinnvall and Sarah Scuzzarello have co-authored the chapter Dialogicality and the (De)securitization of Self: Globalisation, Migration and Multicultural Politics in the recently published anthology Dialogicality in Focus: Challenges to Theory, Method and Application

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Catarina Kinnvall and Sarah Scuzzarello have co-authored the chapter Dialogicality and the (De)securitization of Self: Globalisation, Migration and Multicultural Politics in the recently published anthology Dialogicality in Focus: Challenges to Theory, Method and Application, edited by Mariann Märtsin, Brady Wagoner, Emma-Louise Aveling, Irini Kadianaki och Lisa Whittaker

About the book
The phenomenon which dialogism addresses is human interaction. It enables us to conceptualise human interaction as intersubjective, symbolic, cultural, transformative and conflictual, in short, as complex. The complexity of human interaction is evident in all domains of human life, for example, in therapy, education, health intervention, communication, and coordination at all levels. A dialogical approach starts by acknowledging that the social world is perspectival, that people and groups inhabit different social realities. This book stands apart from the proliferation of recent books on dialogism, because rather than applying dialogism to this or that domain, the present volume focuses on dialogicality itself to interrogate the concepts and methods which are taken for granted in the burgeoning literature. (Imprint: Nova Press)

Table of Contents:
Foreword
(Alex Gillespie)

Introduction: Opening the dialogue
(The editors)

Part I: Challenging approaches to dialogicality

Chapter 1. Dialogical writing and dialogical theory: Reflections on Locke, Shaftesbury and fictional things
(Michael Billig)

Chapter 2. Locating the dialogical self within a cultural sphere
(Amrei C. Joerchel)

Chapter 3. What is an utterance?
(Andrés Haye and Antonia Larraín)

Chapter 4. Dialogical theories at the boundary
(Sanne Akkerman and Theo Niessen)

Commentary 1 to Part I: Challenges to dialogical science
(Ivana Marková)

Commentary 2 to Part I: From ‘already made things’ to ‘things in the making’: Inquiring ‘from within’ the dialogic
(John Shotter)

Part II: Reflections on dialogical methodologies
Chapter 5. Repairing ruptures: Multivocality of analyses
(Brady Wagoner, Alex Gillespie, Jaan Valsiner, Tania Zittoun, João Salgado and Livia Simão)

Chapter 6. Voices of graphic art images
(Marcela Lonchuk and Alberto Rosa)

Chapter 7. Dialogues about research
(Pernille Hviid and Zachary Beckstead)

Commentary to Part II: Dialogical methodologies in practice
(Kyoko Murakami)

Part III: Dialogicality in social practices

Chapter 8. Innovative moments in psychotherapy: Dialogical processes in developing narratives
(Miguel Goncalves, Carla Cuhna, Antonio P. Ribeiro, Inês Mendes, Anita Santos, Marlene Matos and João Salgado)

Chapter 9. Empathy and emotion from the perspective of dialogical (Thorsten Gieser and Hubert Hermans)

Chapter 10. Gender, embodiment, and positioning in the dialogical self: Do men and women see eye to eye?
(Peter Raggatt)

Chapter 11. Dialogicality and the (de)securitization of self: Globalisation, migration and multicultural politics
(Catarina Kinnvall and Sarah Scuzzarello)

Commentary to Part III: Coordinating positions to arrive at change: Creative tensions within the dialogical self framework
(Jaan Valsiner)

In place of a conclusion
The editors

About the authors

Index

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Karin Bäckstrand has co-edited a special issue on Politics and Policy of Carbon Capture and Storage featuring in Global Environmental Change: Human and Policy Dimensions.

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Karin Bäckstrand has co-edited a special issue on Politics and Policy of Carbon Capture and Storage featuring in Global Environmental Change: Human and Policy Dimensions.

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The 12 articles cover three themes: 1) the place carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS) in long-term climate and energy policies, 2) the regulation and policy-making process surroundinging CCS in comparative perspective, 3) the global politics of CCS in key developing countries (Brazil, South Africa, China, India) and in United Nations.

The special issue in an outcome of a 2 year project funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra). More information about the project can be found on the website: http://www.ccs-politics.se/

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Catarina Kinnvall has co-authored the newly published book The Political Psychology of Globalization: Muslims in the West

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Catarina Kinnvall has co-authored the newly published book The Political Psychology of Globalization: Muslims in the West

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In an increasingly globalized world, there are new economic, strategic, cultural, and political forces at work. The Political Psychology of Globalization: Muslims in the West explores how these shifts and shocks have influenced the way in which Muslim minorities in western countries form their identities as political actors. Catarina Kinnvall and Paul Nesbitt-Larking uncover three identity strategies adopted by Muslims in the West: retreatism, essentialism, and engagement. Six western countries - Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom - serve as places for exploration of the emergence of these Muslim political identities. These countries are discussed in light of their colonial histories, patterns of immigration, and citizenship regimes. Although retreatism, essentialism, and engagement occur in Muslim citizens of each of the six western nations discussed in this book, the countries that are best able to balance individual and community rights are most successful in promoting the politics of engagement. In contrast, regimes that focus on anti-terrorist legislation and discourses, and support majority political cultures that are exclusionary, also promote retreatism and essentialist identity strategies in both minority and majority communities. The authors discuss the importance of a climate of engagement that is based on recognition, dialogue, deep multiculturalism, a new global and "cosmopolitical" consciousness, and a sense of political identity that transcends national boundaries and regimes.

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To Amazon’s page about the book

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Mia Olsson is interviewed by Aljazeera (April 2), in an article discussing whether and to what extent the Kazakhstan election (April 3) is free and democratic

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Johannes Lindvall has penned the article The Political Foundations of Trust and Distrust: Reforms and Protests in France which has recently been published in the West European Politics journal

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The Faculty of Law together with the Raul Wallenberg Institute (RWI) arranges a discussion-based, public seminar for researchers and experts from all fields and faculties as an opportunity to discuss the resolution and the situation in Libya. Students are invited to join the seminar which takes place 25 March, 1-3 PM.

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UN Security Council Resolution 1973 (2011): Instant analysis of the situation in Libya

The Faculty of Law together with the Raul Wallenberg Institute (RWI) arranges a discussion based, public seminar for researchers and experts from all fields and faculties as an opportunity to discuss the resolution and the situation in Libya. Students are invited to join the seminar.

Professor Gregor Noll, Juridicum (http://works.bepress.com/gregor_noll), and Dr. Diana Amnéus, RWI (http://www.rwi.lu.se/institute/staff/da.shtml) will open the seminar with a brief analysis.

Time: 13.15–14.00, Friday March 25, 2011 (participants are invited for coffee and further discussions 14-15)

Venue: Telaris (1st flor, Juridicum)

Link below to the relevant post in the university Calendar database

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The Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) and The Association for Foreign Affairs Lund/Utrikespolitiska Föreningen Lund (UPF) would like to invite you to a panel discussing current events in Tunisia and Egypt and its broader effects on the Middle East.

Our idea is to discuss the events that have taken place in Tunisia and Egypt from a variety of aspects in order to try to make the picture clearer. Some of the questions that will be raised are : How will this effect the rest of the ME? How to understand the social foundation for revolts like this one? Why did this happen right now? Is there a potential for a democratic Tunisia and Egypt, and even a democratic Middle East? What role did social media play in these events? What is the function of Islamist movements in the current events?

The floor will also be open for the audience to pose questions.

The panel participants are:

Leif Stenberg, Director of CMES and Associate Professor in Islamology
Nils Gustafsson, PhD candidate, Department of Political Science
Eric Hooglund, Professor, CMES
Anna Sundell, PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Sihem Jebari, Doctor, CMES
Rickard Lagervall, Ph.D. Candidate, Center for Religious Studies
Abdulhadi Khalaf, Lector, Department of Sociology

The panel discussions starts at 19.00 sharp, entrance open from 18.30. We expect a lot of people, so please be in time. Entrance free for UPF members and 30 kr for non-members. Membership can be bought at the entrance.

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Associate Senior Lecturer in Political Science within the strategic research initiative Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate (apply before 17 December 2010)

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Position as Ph D Candidate in political science directed towards international climate policy (apply before 10 December 2010)

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Kristina Jönsson has authored the article ”Unity-in-Diversity? Regional Identity-building in Southeast Asia”, which has recently been published in the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs

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Kristina Jönsson has authored the article ”Unity-in-Diversity? Regional Identity-building in Southeast Asia”, which has recently been published in the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs

Abstract
The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of regional integration and regional identity-building in Southeast Asia. The idea is to problematise the quest for a regional identity by relating the efforts of integration to the issues of multi-ethnicity, national identity-building and multicultural societies in times of globalisation. The article consists of three broad themes intending to capture the complexity of regional identity-building: regionalism and regional cooperation; tensions by diversity; and dilemmas of regional identity-building in multi-ethnic societies illustrated by Laos and Burma/ Myanmar. This analysis is explorative in character and attempts to combine different bodies of literature in order to better understand some of the contradictory processes related to regional identity-building in Southeast Asia. A tentative conclusion is that without an accommodating, inclusive and pluralistic society, the creation of a common regional identity will remain an elitist political project.

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Emma Lund has penned the article Dysfunctional delegation: why the design of the CDM's supervisory system is fundamentally flawed which was recently published in Climate Policy

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Emma Lund has penned the article Dysfunctional delegation: why the design of the CDM's supervisory system is fundamentally flawed which was recently published in Climate Policy

Abstract

The supervisory system of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been heavily criticized for not being able to guarantee the additionality of projects. Since neither the sellers nor the buyers of emission reduction credits in the CDM have an interest in the emissions reductions per se, but simply the right to them, a credible supervisory system is necessary to uphold the mechanism's integrity. In the CDM, the on-the-ground supervision of projects has been delegated to the Designated Operational Entities (DOEs), which are private companies accredited by the CDM Executive Board (EB) to perform this task. But, as the DOEs are selected and paid by the project developers themselves, they have an economic incentive to let projects through to gain a favourable reputation among clients. Taking its starting point in delegation theory, this article argues that the supervisory system of the CDM is fundamentally flawed, since its design is incompatible with basic theoretical insights from this literature. It concludes that a thorough reform of the CDM's supervisory system is needed in order to increase its credibility. First, the EB should select and pay the DOEs. Second, the current rules for determining additionality should be replaced so as to reduce the arbitrariness of decisions.

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Measuring Electoral Systems

Jan Teorell Lund University, Lund, Sweden, jan.teorell@svet.lu.se

Catharina Lindstedt University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

This article compares and assesses four freely available cross-sectional time-series data sets in terms of their information on ballot structure, district structure, and formula of the electoral system in use for lower house and, if relevant, upper house and presidential elections. The authors find that the choice of data source matters for conclusions drawn on the consequences of electoral systems for both party systems and corruption, but that no source can be given prominence over the other on methodological grounds. Students of electoral systems must thus, in the future, make their results sensitive to the choice of data source.

Key Words: electoral systems • data evaluation • party systems • corruption

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Annica Kronsell has co-authored the article The willing, the unwilling and the unable – explaining implementation of the EU Biofuels Directive, recently published in the Journal of European Public Policy

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Together with Lorenzo di Luca, Annica Kronsell has co-authored the article The willing, the unwilling and the unable – explaining implementation of the EU Biofuels Directive, recently published in the Journal of European Public Policy, 2010 Volume 17 Issue 4. Research has been carried out with the IMPACT project (a sub-project to MISTRA).

Abstract
In this article we test current knowledge about policy implementation in multilevel governance systems and focus on the debated case of transport biofuels (EU Directive 2003/30/EC). We probe a set of hypotheses in a qualitative comparative analysis, offering a systematic comparison of 10 member states between 2003 and 2006. The findings show that implementation of the EU biofuels policy is a complex phenomenon where combinations of causal conditions, and not single conditions, produce the outcome. Implementation is more likely when three favourable conditions are present, when policy frames and content between EU and national levels match, when a consensual policy style is used and the most important actors are included. These findings are in agreement with previous studies. Non-implementation, on the other hand, is explained by a dichotomy between member states unable to implement because they lack capacity and those member states unwilling to implement even if they can.

Keywords:
European Union; multilevel governance; qualitative comparative analysis

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Entered date: 2010-05-18
Paul Ekman’s research on how facial expressions and body language can reveal lies has had great international impact. Ekman holds the lecture "Compassion and Heroism: From Darwinian and Buddhist Perspectives", 27 May, 2-4 PM (venue: main auditorium, Kårhuset)

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Günther Teubner’s research has had major impact on the field of sociology of law, and beyond. Teubner holds the lecture "Constitutionalising Polycontexturality: On Societal Constitutions Beyond the Nation State" 26 May, 2-4 PM. Venue: Pufendorf auditorium, , Lilla Gråbrödersgatan 4

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Bachelor and Master Students are invited to submit theses to be considered for the Hydén Award
for best Bachelor or Master thesis on socio-economic and political issues in middle and low-income countries

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You are hereby invited to submit theses for the Hydén Award (after Professor Göran Hydén). In 2002, the Hydén Award was founded to encourage research on development related issues. Qualified for the award are Bachelor and Master level theses presented at Lund University within the social sciences (or closely related discipline) during the academic year of 2009/2010. The thesis shall treat development issues, such as democratic development, human rights, poverty, environment, health, and conflicts.

The theses submitted are evaluated according to a number of criteria. The thesis shall demonstrate independent analytical skills and ability to make use of theory in empirical analysis. The thesis must fulfil scientific methodological requirements and show the methodological awareness of the author. The originality and urgency of the theme and how it is being dealt with, as well as the level of difficulty of the research question, are also taken into account.

Submission deadline is 12 a.m., June 18 2010. The thesis should be submitted in one copy together with a transcript/Ladok-excerpt and a filled in nomination form to Tobias Carlsson (room 334) at the Department of Political Science. Please do also submit your thesis as a pdf-document to tobias.carlsson@svet.lu.se. The winner will be awarded a diploma and 2500 SEK to be handed out at a price ceremony at the Development Research Day during the autumn of 2010.

For further information please contact Tobias Carlsson at the Department of Political Science, phone 046-2228951, or e-mail tobias.carlsson@svet.lu.se.

Link below to the application form

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Tina Jönsson has co-authored the article Stakeholder perceptions of aid coordination implementation in the Zambian health sector which has newly been published in Health Policy

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Tina Jönsson har samförfattat artikeln Stakeholder perceptions of aid coordination implementation in the Zambian health sector som nyligen publicerats i tidskriften Health Policy

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Publication info
Health Policy, 95 (2010) 122-128

Title
Stakeholder perceptions of aid coordination implementation in the Zambian health sector

Authors
Sundewall, J.; Jonsson, K.; Cheelo, C.; Tomson, G.

Abstract
In this study, we analysed stakeholder perceptions of the process of implementing the coordination of health-sector aid in Zambia, Africa. The aim of coordination of health aid is to increase the effectiveness of health systems and to ensure that donors comply with national priorities. With increases in the number of donors involved and resources available for health aid globally, the attention devoted to coordination worldwide has risen. While the theoretical basis of coordination has been relatively well-explored, less research has been carried out on the practicalities of how such coordination is to be implemented. In our study, we focused on potential differences between the views of the stakeholders, both government and donors, on the systems by which health aid is coordinated. A qualitative case study was conducted comprising interviews with government and donor stakeholders in the health sector, as well as document review and observations of meetings. Results suggested that stakeholders are generally satisfied with the implementation of health-sector aid coordination in Zambia. However, there were differences in perceptions of the level of coordination of plans and agreements, which can be attributed to difficulties in harmonizing and aligning organizational requirements with the Zambian health-sector plans. In order to achieve the aims of the Paris Declaration; to increase harmonization, alignment and ownership - resources from donors must be better coordinated in the health sector planning process. This requires careful consideration of contextual constraints surrounding each donor.

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Entered date: 2010-04-28

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Entered date: 2010-04-28

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Entered date: 2010-03-16

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Entered date: 2010-03-15
Lund University Centre of Excellence for Integration of Social and Natural Dimensions of Sustainability (LUCID) organises the workshop Gender, Power and Climate Change March 18 (1-5 PM), in which many prominent researchers will be presenting material.

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Entered date: 2010-03-12
Kristina Jönsson has penned a so called ”yearender” titled Laos in 2009. Recession and Southeast Asian Games which has recently been published in Asian Survey

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Kristina Jönsson has penned a so called ”yearender” titled Laos in 2009. Recession and Southeast Asian Games which has recently been published in Asian Survey (Vol. 50, No 1, pp. 241-246).

Abstract
Laos in 2009 was colored by the Southeast Asian Games held in December, and by the effects of the global financial crisis. Growth rates declined as foreign investment, primarily in hydroelectric power and infrastructure, was postponed. Simultaneously, efforts were made to strengthen the reputation of the country internationally.

Link to the article at a remote site (requires ELIN access)

Together with Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén, Westminster University, Ole Elgström has penned the article "Free to trade? Commission autonomy in the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations", recently published in the Journal of European Public Policy

Abstract
In this article, we suggest that the degree of (dis)unity - both between the member states (MS) in the Council and within the Commission - is a key factor in affecting the balance between Commission autonomy and MS control in international trade negotiations. We shed empirical light on this issue, and on the relative influence of MS and the Commission in general, through a case study of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. We suggest that the differing preferences and priorities among MS and the relative cohesiveness of the Commission provided the Commission with quite a high degree of autonomy during all phases of the EPA negotiations. The informational and procedural advantages given by its institutional position as sole negotiator also contributed to the significant autonomy of the Commission.

Keywords:
ACP countries; cohesiveness; Commission autonomy; EPA negotiations; member state control; trade negotiations

Entered date: 2010-02-09

Bo Petersson has penned the article Hot Conflict and Everyday Banality: Enemy images, scapegoats and stereotypes published in the journal Development (52:4, 460-466)

ABSTRACT
The stereotypes we have about ‘Others’ in our midst frame our way of thinking about those we think are different to us but also how we think about our peers. Bo Petersson discusses a range of negative images, from the mundane and seemingly innocent images of the ‘Other’, to scapegoat and enemy images that may form the ground for hostile action towards the ‘Other’. He draws on examples from political practices in the Russia–Chechnya conflict and from seemingly banal media discourse about immigrants in Sweden.

KEYWORDS
exclusion; inclusion; immigrants; borders; majority; mass media

Link to the article

Entered date: 2009-11-20
Information about vaccination of non-registered residents in the Lund/Malmö are can be found here

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Vaccination of non-registered residents

If you live in Lund or close to Lund (the municipalities Eslöv, Staffanstorp, Hörby, Höör, Kävlinge or Lomma) but are NOT registered residence here, you will not receive any personal invitation by post for vaccination.

The vaccination for non-registered residents in Lund will start on November 24th. You will find more information about how and when the vaccination will take place here: http://www.skane.se/templates/Page.aspx?id=270069 (link below)

If you live in Malmö the vaccination will start on November 30th, at the earliest. Follow the latest news here about vaccination in Malmö here: www.skane.se/templates/Page.aspx?id=269012 (Only information in Swedish available)

More information on the New Influenza (Swine Flu): www.lu.se/flu

Link below to the main portal (Swedish, w. links to English info)

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Entered date: 2009-11-18

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Entered date: 2009-11-18

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Entered date: 2009-11-11
Together with European colleagues from the recently wrapped-up ADAM project, Roger Hildingsson and Johannes Stripple evaluate climate policy i six EU member states in their article Navigating the dilemmas of climate policy in Europe: evidence from policy evaluation studies journal Climatic Change”, published in the journal Climatic Change.

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Together with European colleagues from the recently wrapped-up ADAM project, Roger Hildingsson and Johannes Stripple evaluate climate policy i six EU member states in their article Navigating the dilemmas of climate policy in Europe: evidence from policy evaluation studies journal Climatic Change”, published in the journal Climatic Change.

Abstract
Climate change is widely recognised as a ‘wicked’ policy
problem. Agreeing and implementing governance responses is proving
extremely difficult. Policy makers in many jurisdictions now emphasise
their ambition to govern using the best available evidence. One
obvious source of such evidence is the evaluations of the performance
of existing policies. But to what extent do these evaluations provide
insights into the difficult dilemmas that governors typically
encounter? We address this question by reviewing the content of 262
evaluation studies of European climate policies in the light of six
kinds of dilemma found in the governance literature. We are interested
in what these studies say about the performance of European climate
policies and in their capacity to inform evidence-based policy-making.
We find that the evaluations do arrive at common findings: that
climate change is framed as a problem of market and/or state failure;
that voluntary measures tend to be ineffective; that market-based
instruments tend to be regressive; that EU-level policies have driven
climate policies in the latecomer EU Member States; and that lack of
monitoring and weak enforcement are major obstacles to effective
policy implementation. However, we also conclude that the evidence
base these studies represent is surprisingly weak for such a high
profile area. There is too little systematic climate policy evaluation
work in the EU to support systematic evidence-based policy making.
This reduces the scope for sound policy making in the short run and is
a constraint to policy learning in the longer term.

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Entered date: 2009-11-03

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Entered date: 2009-10-28

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Entered date: 2009-10-26
In a special issue of the journal Forest Policy and Economics, Karin Bäckstrand and two colleagues discuss whether forrest certfications are an effective instrument in Swedish Forrest policy

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In a special issue of the journal Forest Policy and Economics, Karin Bäckstrand and two colleagues discuss whether or not forest certfications are an effective instrument in Swedish Forest policy

Abstract

Forest certification can be conceived as one of many rapidly growing non-state market driven (NSMD) modes of governance. The environmental effectiveness of forest certification is oftentimes evaluated by indicators such as stringency of standards, degree of participation by key stakeholders, certified area, etc. In political science, forest certification as an NSMD governance arrangement is usually evaluated in terms of the quality of the decision-making procedures (input legitimacy) rather than for its problem solving capacity, i.e. its environmental performance or effectiveness. We conceptualize environmental effectiveness as a function of a standard's environmental stringency and the area covered by the standard, the latter dependent on the degree of social acceptance. Accordingly, the environmental effectiveness of different certification schemes ought to be evaluated taking both the standard stringency and the area certified into account. The forest certification process in Sweden illustrates how forestry history and regional differences affect the development, acceptance and adoption of different certification schemes. Industrial and Northern forestry owners favour the NGO led Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards whereas Southern small-scale private forest owners preferred to develop an alternative scheme the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). We demonstrate that there is a bifurcated geographical coverage of the two certification schemes along a north–south divide coupled with a similarity in standard stringency and a high degree of acceptance in their different areas of dominance. Both forest certification schemes display a similar degree of environmental effectiveness — but in different parts of the country and for different types of ownership.

Keywords: Forest governance; Swedish forest policy; Forest certification; Legitimacy; Effectiveness; Non-state market driven governance

Article Outline

1. Introduction
2. The legitimacy and effectiveness of forest certification
2.1. Political legitimacy
2.2. Reviewing the research on legitimacy and effectiveness of forest certification
2.3. Toward a notion of environmental effectiveness
2.4. To certify or not?
3. The north–south divide in Swedish forest ecology and economy
4. Swedish forest legislation from 1900–2008: old or new modes of governance?
4.1. Early forest legislation: soft forms of steering
4.2. Hard steering, centralization and conflict
4.3. The return to new modes of governance in Swedish forest legislation
5. Competing and converging forest certification
6. An effective certification?
References

Entered date: 2009-09-28
In her recent report ”Sweden a norm-entrepreneur in the EU”, Annika Björkdahl discusses opportunities for Sweden to impact the European Union agenda, and thus gain added opportunity to diffuse democracy norms.

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Entered date: 2009-09-25
Anders Uhlin has authored the article "Which Characteristics of Civil Society Organizations Support What Aspects of Democracy? Evidence from Post-communist Latvia", which has recently been published in the journal International Political Science Review

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Anders Uhlin has authored the article "Which Characteristics of Civil Society Organizations Support What Aspects of Democracy? Evidence from Post-communist Latvia", which has recently been published in the journal International Political Science Review (2009), Vol. 30, No. 3, 271–295.

Abstract.
This article reconsiders the argument that civil society promotes democracy. Both the independent variable of civil society and the dependent variable of democracy are disentangled. Several hypotheses on what characteristics of civil society organizations (CSOs) promote what aspects of democracy are tested using survey data including 500 CSOs in post-communist Latvia. The regression analysis shows that organizational characteristics (such as the field of activity, extent of political activities, and number of members) have a stronger effect on democracy than have relational characteristics (such as the degree of open recruitment and autonomy). Certain characteristics of CSOs can be supportive of some democratic functions but constitute obstacles to other aspects of democracy. It is possible to distinguish between an advocacy civil society, which is vital for the institutional aspects of democracy through performing the functions of interest articulation and checking state power, and a recreational civil society, which may strengthen democracy through the fostering of support for democratic values and increasing individual capacity for political participation.

Entered date: 2009-09-01

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Entered date: 2009-08-31
In his newly published book The EU and the European Security Order: Interfacing security actors, Rikard bengtsson analyses the role of the EU in current European security politics

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In his newly published book The EU and the European Security Order: Interfacing security actors (Routledge), Rikard bengtsson analyses the role of the EU in current European security politics.

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Abstract
Drawing on constructivist theory, the framework of the book focuses on the meeting - or 'interface' - of actors, a situation reflecting the mutual construction of self, other and situation. The analytical framework applied here to European security politics is potentially open-ended as the theoretical logic that informs the framework is general and abstract in character, and not limited to state actors in an international setting. The empirical aim of this book is to further our understanding of the EU as a security actor in a regional perspective. The book thus links International Relations scholarship with that of EU studies. By analyzing a number of different interfaces (such as with Russia, the US, and other states), we can learn more about the circumstances and preconditions and with what resources and power the EU acts in a regional security setting.

Entered date: 2009-06-03
Tove Dannestam defends her dissertation, ”Stadspolitik i Malmö. Politikens meningsskapande och materialitet”. Fakulty opponent: Harald Baldersheim, Professor in Political Science, Oslo university. The defence is public and takes place June 4, 10-12 Eden Auditorium.

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Tove Dannestam defends her dissertation, ”Stadspolitik i Malmö. Politikens meningsskapande och materialitet”. Fakulty opponent: Harald Baldersheim, Professor in Political Science, Oslo university. The defence is public and takes place June 4, 10-12 Eden Auditorium.

ENGLISH SUMMARY

Rethinking Local Politics in Malmö. Towards a Discursive-Material Analysis of Politics

Introduction to the research problem
The state-centric character of social science is of increasing interest to scholars from various research traditions. A common starting point is the assertion that the nation state should no longer be viewed as the natural arena for the study of political power. In light of this debate, more and more attention has been given to new (or, rather, renewed) political spaces. Political entities – such as cities and regions – are gaining in importance due to processes associated with globalization and state restructuring. More and more, the role cities play in social progress in general, and economic development in particular, is being noticed.

As policymakers of contemporary cities reformulate their policy orientations away from the goal of redistribution towards achieving economic competitiveness, they are becoming more and more committed to what is described as entrepreneurial city politics. Entrepreneurial city politics refers to the introduction of growth-oriented policies and new structures of governance within local governments. Using a range of different strategies, typically including urban redevelopment and place marketing, city governments are trying to act innovatively and are taking economic risks in order to enhance the competitiveness of their cities.

In international research there is a near consensus that the role of cities is changing, not only in North America, but also in those parts of Europe traditionally known for a strong attachment to the welfare state. Empirical research on entrepreneurial cities, however, focuses almost exclusively on North American and British cities although studies of Asian and continental European cities are becoming more common. Both the international and Nordic research communities have shown little interest in studying whether the trends associated with urban entrepreneurialism are viable in a Nordic context. Thus, in this dissertation, I show that urban entrepreneurialism does manifest itself in this context in spite of its legacy of redistributive policies and territorial cohesion. This is done through a case study of the city of Malmö, a former role model for industrial progress and for the Social Democratic ‘welfare city’. The city is now undergoing a process of transformation and politico-economic restructuring, within the context of a transnational growth region.

Theoretical approach and aim of the study
Theoretically, I apply and redevelop the framework of Cultural Political Economy (CPE) in order to understand why and how cities turn towards urban entrepreneurialism. CPE is an approach to the study of contemporary capitalism and state restructuring that has recently been developed by ‘the Lancaster School’ – a growing research cluster at Lancaster University driven by Bob Jessop and Ngai-Ling Sum. Linking the micro and macro processes of political-economic regulation is central to the CPE approach, which also puts forward the discursive-material dialectics of social transformation. Through a discursive-material analysis, the aim of CPE is to offer a ‘golden middle way’ between a one-sided emphasis on either ideational or purely material processes.
Conceptualized from a CPE-perspective, entrepreneurial city politics is about ‘political economy’, since it has to do with the political regulation of economic processes on the local political level. It is ‘cultural’, since urban entrepreneurialism should be conceptualized as a discourse prioritizing specific ideas about the nature of the economy and the role of the local government within. This discourse claims that city governments must apply the strategies associated with urban entrepreneurialism in order to ‘survive’ and prosper as vital entities in the intensifying competition under the name of ‘globalization’.

In the dissertation I argue that CPE is an appropriate approach to the study of policy-making in general. However, I propose that the approach must be specified through other theoretical traditions. In order to explore the discursive aspects of entrepreneurial city politics, I integrate the tradition of interpretative policy analysis and make use of the concept of discourse coalitions within CPE. I also address governance-theories, and more specifically urban regime theory, in order to explore the material dimensions of entrepreneurialism. Taken together, these traditions put forward an understanding of politics based on ‘governance’. The basic foundation in this kind of understanding is that politics is network-based, although not necessarily horizontal, without power relations or ‘post-government’. This means that decision-making processes take place in interactions between a variety of actors (including private), rather than only inside the formal institutions of government.

Moreover, I argue that we cannot fully understand politics if we do not address the ongoing theorization of the politics of scale. Politics of scale refers to the idea that scales should be seen as something socially constructed in negotiations and struggles between different actors, rather than natural and static layers of political and territorial organization. From this perspective, through entrepreneurial city

politics there is a construction of ‘the city’ as a relevant political category and as a new scale for the political regulation of economic processes.
Hence, the development of my theoretical framework is founded on CPE and the other perspectives mentioned above. In the next step, the theoretical framework is concretized to an ‘operationalized conceptual framework’. This concrete framework is composed of three moments by which politics are practiced in an interplay between discursive and material processes. Discourse gets translated into practice through the moments of selection, actors mobilizing discourse-coalitions and institutionalization. In the first moment some of the discourses that circulate on societal meta and meso levels are selected and translated into micro-discourses through a process of re-contextualization. In the next moment there is a mobilization of actors that privilege certain objects of governance and give discursive and material support to these micro-discourses. Finally, micro-discourses materialize into organizational and political practice through the different technologies of institutionalization that actors employ.

In theoretical terms, the overall ambition of the dissertation is to contribute to the on-going re-conceptualization of politics in general and local politics in particular. Political scientists tend to treat local politics as equal to sub-national politics – in other words first and foremost defined in relation to the state. Local governments are seen as subordinated to the state, mainly concerned with service delivery and with clear demarcation lines in relation to other political levels. Local politics has also been equated with ‘municipal politics’, i.e. as a politics within the formal decision-making processes of local governments. In conjunction with the international agenda of “rethinking local politics”, throughout the dissertation I argue that such a task of re-thinking is especially urgent in a Nordic context. Here, local governments have primarily functioned as a means for the central state to implement the Scandinavian welfare model, and ‘municipal politics’ has functioned as “an iron-grip on political imagination” (cf. Brenner, 2004:29). Furthermore, I argue that we can learn something more general about politics from the study and the theoretical framework that I develop. Thus, the aim of the dissertation is also to create a deeper understanding for how politics are practiced in general, through an interplay between discursive and material processes and beyond the processes traditionally associated with a ‘government-based’ conceptualization of politics.

The case study
Beginning in the late 1970s, Malmö underwent a process of de-industrialisation followed by economic decline, which resulted in very high unemployment and escalating social problems. In the aftermath of this economic and social crisis and still burdened with a myriad of problems, the city government engaged in a number of projects aimed at renewing the city and leaving its industrial origins behind. In the case study I carry out a long-time analysis of the visions, strategies and projects applied by the city government since the crisis. The material consists of interviews with approximately 50 leading actors within and around the city, including some regional, state and private actors. The focus of the analysis is on the re-contextualization of the discourse on urban entrepreneurialism, i.e. how coalitions of key actors create, mediate and translate the discourse to fit the actual (previously welfare oriented) context of local government. Attention is directed at how the discourse is selected through the material practices of institutions, organizations and actors.
The aim of the case study is to explore why it is that urban entrepreneurialism, as an overall vision for the city, is selected and driven by discourse coalitions and institutionalized. Three questions are formulated. First: Into which micro-discourses does the discourse on entrepreneurial city politics re-contextualize in this specific setting? Here, I analyze how micro-discourses are selected discursively, through discursive support in other discourses at various levels, and materially through the strategies and projects of actors. Secondly: Which discourse coalitions are mobilized around each micro-discourse? Attention is drawn towards how actors, originating from the private as well as the public sector at various political levels, build coalitions that are essential both for the selection and institutionalization of entrepreneurial city politics. Thirdly: Through which technologies of institutionalization are each micro-discourse institutionalized and transformed into concrete politics? Here, I analyze how entrepreneurial city politics gradually are translated into the everyday practice of local government.

Malmö as a new, transformed city
In Malmö, the discourse on urban entrepreneurialism is re-contextualized into three micro-discourses. First, a discourse centered on the image of a new, transformed post-industrial city is selected, constructed as an antipode to the city’s industrial past. This discourse is getting discursive support from meta-discourses on the ‘knowledge-based economy’ and the ‘knowledge-region’. Materially, it is selected through actors within city government initiating an extensive visionary program, with the purpose of mapping the city’s future. At the same time, city leaders rejected strategies aimed at locating new (traditional) industries in the city and started a process of informal lobbying for the establishment of a college (University) in Malmö.

Around this micro-discourse, coalition-building between key individuals in city government and private business took place. This public-private discourse-coalition gathered during informal meetings around the future of the city, but it also materialized into instrumental, project-based coalitions centered on urban re-generation in specific city districts.

The micro-discourse on a new, transformed city has been institutionalized through different technologies. First, through a technology of visualization in urban built environment city leaders mediate the message of a transformed city in urban space. It is also important that the discourse has been uttered, through a technology of repetition, by many different actors (such as business leaders, architects, journalists, scientists, consultants). Secondly, a technology based on the mobilization of actors and resources has been crucial. Individuals within, and outside local government, have acted as discursive mediators but also as key change agents, mobilizing institutional capacity for the institutionalization of the specific discourse and driving the processes of re-development.

Local government as growth- and welfare provider
The second micro-discourse in Malmö is centered on local government as both a growth and a welfare provider simultaneously. According to this discourse, it is crucial for local governments to develop growth policies and engage in economically oriented strategies if they are to fulfill their welfare commitments. A process of selection takes place through the neo-liberal principle of ‘trickle down’ which tells us that welfare automatically trickles from economic development. These ideas are selected materially through the launching of an important policy program, called ‘Welfare for everybody’, and through an extensive leadership program for city leaders. An important conclusion resulting from the analysis is that there was no resonance for the re-contextualization of a strong growth-orientated role per se. Instead, it had to be legitimized with references to the historically fundamental welfare-oriented discourse of local government.

This dual growth welfare discourse is argued for by different coalitions within local government. A consensus-oriented political coalition was gradually formed. It consisted of the leadership of the two largest parties in the city council (the social democratic party in power and the conservative opposition party). This political coalition planned and implemented several different urban development projects. Also, a coalition with leading civil servants was mobilized across different organizational units. It transcended the well-established order within the local bureaucracy. Together, these coalitions represent a new, institutional layer in local government, based on informal relations but still dependent on formal, organizational resources and essential for the introduction of entrepreneurial city politics in Malmö.
The analysis showed how the idea of local government as a growth- and welfare provider was institutionalized through a technology of formalization, where governance becomes government. Growth policies materialized into new organizational units, creating institutional support and access to organizational resources. Further, several of the entrepreneurial projects have been institutionalized through a technology based on an interplay between formal and informal processes of decision-making and implementation. This technology was necessary in order to generate a power to act, but also to create political legitimacy.

The city as a regional growth machine
In the last micro-discourse the city of Malmö is framed as a regional growth machine. The orientation of urban policy in Malmö during the 1990’s was a combination of an entrepreneurial city strategy with an emerging cross-border regional strategy in conjunction with Copenhagen. According to the discourse, if development is concentrated in the largest cities, it will then, ultimately disperse to other parts of the region as well (both the transnational Øresund Region and the Swedish ‘region of Scania’). The discourse was selected with support from discourses such as ‘globalism’, ‘neo-regionalism’ and an imagining of the economy as a ‘space of flows’. Materially the discourse was selected through the construction of a bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen and the establishment of a new, political organization on the regional level in Scania.

Essential for its selection and institutionalization is the presence of what I call territorial discourse coalitions. In the region of Scania, where Malmö is located, smaller municipalities as well as the regional organization gave support to the idea of Malmö acting as a growth machine. Representatives from Malmö have also, together with colleagues from the cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg, formed an informal ‘big-city network’. The network is lobbying at the national level for the institutionalization of the (metropolitan) urban scale as a new layer for politico-economic regulation in Swedish politics.

Two technologies emerge, both based on the importance of the politics of scale. Firstly, through scalar lobbying actors try to impose the urban scale as a proper scale for the political regulation of the economy. Secondly, through new constellations and regional constructions – transcending different types of ingrained political boundaries – a power to act is created. At the same time, interests based on territorial formulations have not ceased to exist and tensions arise between cooperation and competition.

A snapshot of conclusions
In the concluding chapter of the dissertation, I summarize the analysis of city politics in Malmö and elaborate on some conclusions to be drawn regarding our understanding of politics in general and local politics in particular. What can be said when it comes to re-thinking local politics? First of all, we tend to think about politics in given spatial terms. Politics has been territorially defined and structured along categories such as ‘local politics’ or ‘international politics’. The resurgence of new political spaces might however challenge our traditional conceptualization of local politics. We shouldn’t view local politics as sub-national. In that case, we would find it hard to capture the transnational activities of contemporary cities. Of course, local governments are subordinated to national legislation and the nation state has by no means lost its influence over local government. However, a lot of ongoing activities can hardly be characterized as sub-national. The largest cities are emerging as actors on a European and international scale, often bypassing the state itself. Many cities are embedded in transnational regions, and develop political strategies to market and position themselves in an international, rather than national context. Thus, local politics should rather be conceptualized as part of, and reflecting, processes that cannot easily be described as ‘local’, ‘national’ or ‘global’. Key questions for future research are whether the politics of the contemporary city may best be characterized as ‘local’, ‘national’, ‘regional’ or ‘global’? Or is it, perhaps, something in between – as the popular concept of glocalization or translocal politics signals?

Secondly, local politics has been equalized with decision-making processes within local government, associated with a well-defined administrative, political and geographical entity. Its political legitimacy has presupposed a clearly defined territory, with distinct demarcation lines against surrounding territories and in relation to other political levels. This represents a rather narrow view on politics. By viewing local governments as clear-cut and territorially well defined entities, we’ll miss all the activities which don’t primarily take place within the limits of local governments. Instead I have argued that we have to return to the basic conceptualization of politics within the governance debate. Attention should be drawn towards informal networks, constituting a new, institutional layer of politics. Those involved in these networks consist not only of private actors outside of local government, but also of individual actors within local government and from other political levels. Through these networks much of the entrepreneurial politics gets accomplished. Thus, organizational aspects, although often disregarded, might constitute an equally important part of entrepreneurial practices, much as the more grandiose and explicit strategies do. One conclusion that I draw is that the processes associated with governance represent an institutional structure that materially supports the selection of the discourse on urban entrepreneurialism.

When local politics is conceived of as ‘beyond’ sub-national government, we do not miss the ongoing construction of ‘the city’ as a relevant political category at various scales. In the discourse on urban entrepreneurialism, cities are represented as political actors and as an object(ive) of governance. Through a politics of scale ‘the urban’ is represented as a proper and natural scale for the political regulation of economic processes. This implies that entrepreneurial city politics should not be treated as something neutral and apolitical, as “the politics of necessary adaptation”. Rather, they should be conceptualized as a specific political project driven by several coalitions of powerful actors.

Fourthly, while local governments in the Nordic countries are still involved in delivering welfare, many of them are concerned with entrepreneurial city politics as well. Judging from the experience of the city of Malmö, being the local arm of the welfare state is a role that has by no means been abandoned. Of course, the promotion of one area of policy does not automatically result in the disfavouring of another. Still, politics is about setting priorities and the future prosperity of cities is often framed in terms of entrepreneurial visions. Buzz words such as ‘strengthening the brand of the city’ and ‘enhancing its competitiveness’, in order to be an ‘attractive city’, are frequently translated into policies by Swedish local governments. Such activities might challenge the traditional policies of local politics, and thus our traditional idea of the meaning and function of local politics. From the perspective of city leaders, alternative discourses, such as the ‘Just City’ or the ‘Welfare City’, are seldom expressed.

A key question for future research is whether the current discourse on entrepreneurial cities is challenged by other discourses – such as ‘the sustainable city’? Is it possible for alternative discourses to achieve discursive and material support? Another important question for future research is also whether there is a special Nordic version of entrepreneurial cities. The welfare system might neutralize the distributional effects of growth policies or entrepreneurial city politics might challenge the realization of the welfare state at the local level.
Finally, starting with a re-thinking within the theoretical framework of this dissertation there is potential for realizing that the entrepreneurial nature of cities is not inevitable or apolitical. The dialectical view of politics, central to CPE, is very appealing in this regard. Through a dialectical view, it is possible to avoid treating central notions such as ‘urban competition’ either as an empirical fact or as an ideological fallacy. In addition, when engaging in a discursive-material analysis, entrepreneurial city politics becomes neither a deterministic reflection of a ‘faceless’ discursive power nor the result of the unconditioned agency of actors. Rather, urban entrepreneurialism can be conceived of as a specific political practice, which depends on both hegemonic discourses on the political regulation of the economy and on the agency of various actors forming coalitions on urban issues.

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Entered date: 2009-05-24

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Entered date: 2009-05-19

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Catarina Kinnvall contributes with the chapter ’Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak' in Jenny Edkins’s & Nick Vaughan-Williams’s anthology Critical Theorists and International Relations.

Abstract

Being born in India to solid middle-class parents, Spivak belongs to the first generation of Indian intellectuals after independence, what Salman Rushdie has referred to as The Midnight Children. She specializes in nineteenth and twentieth-century literature, Marxism, feminism, deconstruction, poststructuralism, postcolonialism and globalization and has been a member of the Subaltern Studies Group. She has sustained a critical engagement with the intellectual tradition represented by the writings of Freud, Lacan, Marx, Derrida and Foucault and has been crucial in transforming and politicizing feminist and poststructuralist critiques of psychoanalysis and Marxist thought. Her role as a postcolonial critic and feminist cannot be overestimated and it is in this capacity that her direct influence on the field of international relations has been most evident. This chapter starts with an overview of Gayatri Spivak’s major works, followed by a discussion of some key concepts in her writings and teachings and their influence on IR scholars and debates. Finally, the chapter provides some suggestions for further readings.

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Entered date: 2009-04-10

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Entered date: 2009-04-09

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Entered date: 2009-04-02
Johannes Stripple has together with Eva Lövbrand and Bo Wiman published "Earth System governmentality: Reflections on science in the Anthropocene" in the journal Global Environmental Change. The article opens up the Earth System metaphor to political analysis and asks what it does to our understanding of nature and society as a governable domain

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Johannes Stripple has together with Eva Lövbrand and Bo Wiman published "Earth System governmentality: Reflections on science in the Anthropocene" in the journal Global Environmental Change. The article opens up the Earth System metaphor to political analysis and asks what it does to our understanding of nature and society as a governable domain

Lövbrand, E., Stripple, J., and Wiman, B. 2009. Earth System governmentality: Reflections on science in the Anthropocene. Global Environmental Change. 19(1): 7-13.

Abstract
This paper examines Earth System Science as a novel approach to global environmental change research. Drawing upon Michel Foucault's governmentality concept, the paper opens up the Earth System metaphor to political analysis and asks what it does to our understanding of nature and society as a governable domain. We trace the scientific practices that have produced the Earth System as a thinkable analytical category back to the International Geophysical Year in 1957. We also identify ‘the Anthropocene’ as a central and yet ambiguous system of thought for Earth System Science that harbours different strategies for sustainability in terms of (1) the persons over whom government is to be exercised; (2) the distribution of tasks and actions between authorities; and (3) contrasting ideals or principles for how government should be directed.

Keywords: Earth System Science; Governmentality; Anthropocene; The coupled human and ecological system; Global environmental change research

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Entered date: 2009-03-30

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Entered date: 2009-03-26
The Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg announces Ph D Candidate Positions - last day of application: May 4.

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Entered date: 2009-03-25

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Entered date: 2009-03-19

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Entered date: 2009-03-18
In her recently published article ”A review of the CDM literature: from fine-tuning to critical scrutiny?” (International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics 2009, vol 1) Emma Paulsson assesses the evolution of the clean development mechanism (CDM).

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In her recently published article ”A review of the CDM literature: from fine-tuning to critical scrutiny?” (International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics 2009, vol 1) Emma Paulsson assesses the evolution of the clean development mechanism (CDM).

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As negotiations on the post-2012 climate regime are now taking off, it is time to look back and assess the experiences of the clean development mechanism (CDM) to this date. The CDM has been subject to extensive discussion in academic literature during the last few years, and this article reviews that literature in order to sum up its main themes. A common assessment is that the current structure of the CDM leads to a focus on cheap emissions reductions at the expense of sustainable development benefits for the host countries. Recently, the questionable additionality of many CDM projects has become a central issue. The article further argues that whereas a substantial body of work exists on the CDM, this work is mainly preoccupied with a ‘fine-tuning’ of the mechanism. As the CDM now becomes increasingly institutionalized, scholars should also take a step back and study the CDM in a more theoretically oriented way.

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Entered date: 2009-03-11

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Entered date: 2009-02-24

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Entered date: 2009-02-22
Together with Hanna Bäck, Jan Teorell has authored the chapter ”The Stability of Partisanship: Evidence from a Russian Panel Study”, part of the recently published anthology Political Parties and Partisanship: Social Identities and Individual Attitudes (Routledge: 2009).

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Together with Hanna Bäck, Jan Teorell has authored the chapter ”The Stability of Partisanship: Evidence from a Russian Panel Study”, part of the recently published anthology Political Parties and Partisanship: Social Identities and Individual Attitudes (Routledge: 2009), edited by Bartle, J. & Bellucci, P.

Abstract
Abstract: Many scholars of Post-Soviet societies portray parties as ephemeral and impotent, and argue that citizens will not establish stable attachments to such parties. Others give a more optimistic depiction and claim that we are witnessing an emergence of partisanship in these societies. In this chapter, we investigate the stability of partisanship in Russia, drawing on a nationally representative panel survey of the Russian population conducted in three waves between 2000 and 2004. We find that a large share of the Russian citizens are in fact attached to a party.Moreover, once measurement error is taken into account, there is a fair amount of stability over time. We also show that partisanship influences the likelihood that an individual will vote for a party. At the same time, partisanship responds to short-time forces and does not display the kind of long-term stability found in many established democracies.

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Entered date: 2009-01-20
Malena Rosén Sundström defends her dissertation ”Anchoring Social-Democratic EU-policies. Room for a democratic debate?” (translated). The public defence takes place in the Eden Auditorium, 23 January, 2009, 10.15 - 12.00.

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Malena Rosén Sundström defends her dissertation ”Anchoring Social-Democratic EU-policies. Room for a democratic debate?” (translated). The public defence takes place in the Eden Auditorium, 23 January, 2009, 10.15 - 12.00.

The link below takes you to the Swedish information page, from which navigation to the English equivalent is available. The dissertation is written in Swedish but contains an 8 page English summary.

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The Wahlgren Symposium on Democracy, Globalization & Media

Time, Place: 10:15 - 16:45, Humanisthuset main lecture hall

Lecturers: Natalie Fenton, Vibodh Parthasarathi, Markus Prior, Eric Schaefer, Tim Youngs

Programme:

Hörsalen, Språk- och litteraturcentrum Friday 14 November 2008, 10.15-16.00 (with a break for lunch at 12.30)

A one day international event dedicated to media analysis and lively discussion!

10.15-10.30 Introduction. Professor Sune Sunesson, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Daniel Sandström, Editor in Chief, Sydsvenska Dagbladet

10.30-11.30 Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK "Politics as Being and Being Political"

11.30-12.30 Vibodh Parthasarathi, Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Dehli, "Perspectives on Media and Governance: Reflections from India"

12.30-13.30 LUNCH

13.30-14.30 Markus Prior, Princeton University, NJ, USA "New Media, Content Preferences, and the Development of Political Interest"

14.30-15.30 Eric Schaefer, Emerson College, Boston, Mass., USA "Sexploitation, Education, and the Promise of Democracy."

15.30-15.45 Coffee

15.45-16.45 Tim Youngs, Nottingham Trent University, UK "The Globalization of Travel Theory"

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Entered date: 2008-11-04

Debating institutionalism
Edited by Jon Pierre, Guy Peters & Gerry Stoker

Introduction
Institutionalism has become one of the dominant strands of theory within contemporary political science. Beginning with the challenge to behavioural and rational choice theory issued by March and Olsen, institutional analysis has developed into an important alternative to more individualistic approaches to theory and analysis. This body of theory has developed in a number of ways, and perhaps the most commonly applied version in political science is historical institutionalism that stresses the importance of path dependency in shaping institutional behaviour.
The fundamental question addressed in this book is whether institutionalism is useful for the various sub-disciplines within political science to which it has been applied, and to what extent the assumptions inherent to institutional analysis can be useful for understanding the range of behaviour of individuals and structures in the public sector. The volume will also examine the relative utility of different forms of institutionalism within the various sub-disciplines.

The book consists of a set of strong essays by noted international scholars from a range of sub-disciplines within the field of political science, each analysing their area of research from an institutionalist perspective and assessing what contributions this form of theorising has made, and can make, to that research. The result is a balanced and nuanced account of the role of institutions in contemporary political science, and a set of suggestions for the further development of institutional theory.

Contents:
1. Institutional theory: problems and prospects - B. Guy Peters
2. Institutional theory and democracy - Peter Bogason
3. Institutional theory and the public policy field: a promising perspective for perennial problems - Arjen Boin and Sanneke Kuipers
4. Formal and informal institutions in public administration - Patricia Ingraham et al
5. Institutional theory in international relations - Christer Jönsson and Jonas Tallberg
6. Institutional theory and legislatures - David Judge
7. Urban politics and institutional theory - Vivien Lowndes
8. Institutional theory and comparative democratisation - Leonardo Morlino
9. Institutional theory and the study of political executives - B. Guy Peters
10. Institutional theory and political economy - Bob Jessop
11. Conclusions - Jon Pierre, B. Guy Peters and Gerry Stoker

Jon Pierre is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenberg, Guy Peters is Maurice Falk Professor of Government in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

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Entered date: 2008-09-04
Mikael Sundström has authored the article Connecting Social Science and Information Technology through an Interface-Centric Framework of Analysis which has recently been published in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics.

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Mikael Sundström has authored the article Connecting Social Science and Information Technology through an Interface-Centric Framework of Analysis which has recently been published in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics.

The link below provides the text and a multimedia presentation of the ideas in the paper

Abstract
The gathering pace of IT innovation has, or ought to have had notable methodological repercussions for the social-science community (and beyond). Where yesterday the researcher could
unhurriedly unlock the social-scientific significance of a chosen medium, secure in the knowledge that his or her work would have bearing for many years, by now there is every reason to confront a fear that the prodded IT implementation may in fact be gone or at least heavily altered by the time such comprehensive research is concluded. This paper will propose a complementing systematic “interface-centric” research model capable of interconnecting a non-finite variety of IT implementations and social science studies in a coherent way. The paper also outlines how users “downstream”, whether political actors or technology operators can use the proposed framework to more easily approach and weight academic input when evaluating complex IT effects.

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Entered date: 2008-09-04

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Entered date: 2008-07-28
In an article in Journal of European Public Policy, Annika Björkdahl discusses how conflict prevention became and integral and legitimate part of EU policy and practice.

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In an article in Journal of European Public Policy (vol 15, no. 1), Annika Björkdahl discusses how conflict prevention became and integral and legitimate part of EU policy and practice.

The article illustrates the influence of powerful ideas and successful norm advocacy of a small state managing to punch above its weight in the EU. The aim of this article is to analyze norm advocacy as a potent addition to traditional strategies of gaining influence in the Union. By tracing the process of Swedish promotion of conflict prevention the article explores norm advocacy strategies such as, framing, agenda-setting, diplomatic tactics and the power of the Presidency. The EU institutional setting provides ample opportunities for exerting normative power also for a small state, and in areas where great powers generally are regarded to dominate such as, the CFSP and the ESDP.

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Entered date: 2008-07-25

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Entered date: 2008-07-21

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Entered date: 2008-06-17
Karin Aggestam and Annika Björkdahl have received SEK 13m from the EU’s 7th Framework Programme, to coordinate a research programme about sustainable peace and just peace, involving seven different universities in Europe and the Middle East.

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Entered date: 2008-06-15
Together with Robert Holmberg from the Department of Psychology, Bo Petersson and Mikael Sundström has received funds from the Swedish Emergency management Agency to study legitimacy, knowledge creation and practical drift in information Security management.

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The main research interest is the study of how organisations can develop sustainable knowledge and legitimacy generation processes within the field of information security. We hope to develop and test a process-model for best-practise analysis, planning and implementation of ISM in actual organisations.

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Open lecture: Chandra Talpade Mohanty
Feminism Without Borders: On Insurgent Knowledge and Radical Politics. Chandra Talpade Mohanty is Professor of Women's Studies, Sociology, and Cultural Foundations of Education, Dean's Professor of the Humanities, Syracuse University and Honorary Doctor of Social Science, Lund University. Welcome!

Time: 28 maj 2008 kl. 13.15

Locus: Kulturen (Museum of cultural history), the auditorium

Entered date: 2008-05-19

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Entered date: 2008-05-05

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Entered date: 2008-05-05
Tomas Bergström and Håkan Magnusson are two of the authors of the article Through a glass darkly: Leadership complexity in Swedish local government that has recently been published in Local Government Studies

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Entered date: 2008-05-05
Tomas Bergström has co-authored the article From princeps to president? Comparing local political leadership transformation that has recently been published in Local Government Studies

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Entered date: 2008-05-02

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Entered date: 2007-11-27

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Entered date: 2007-11-24
In her chapter To practice what they preach: International transitional administrations and the paradox of norm promotion, Annika Björkdahl condicts a critical evaluation of international tyransitional administrations’ efforts to build peace and democracy in conflict-stricken states.

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In her chapter To practice what they preach: International transitional administrations and the paradox of norm promotion, Annika Björkdahl condicts a critical evaluation of international tyransitional administrations’ efforts to build peace and democracy in conflict-stricken states.

Entered date: 2007-11-23

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Entered date: 2007-11-16
Maria Hedlund defends her dissertation Demokratiska genvägar: Expertinflytande i den svenska lagstiftningsprocessen om medicinsk genteknik, 23 November, 10-12 AM, Eden Auditorium.

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Maria Hedlund defends her dissertation Demokratiska genvägar: Expertinflytande i den svenska lagstiftningsprocessen om medicinsk genteknik, 23 November, 10-12 AM, Eden Auditorium.

Abstract

This dissertation is about expert influence and democracy and focuses on how political decision-making about issues highly dependent on qualified scientific expertise should come about in order to be democratic. The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate, from a democratic perspective, the Swedish legislative process concerned with medical gene technology ? an archetypal case where the decision-making processes involve a marked level of expertise. It is argued that a democratic decision-making process should be characterized by openness and transparency and the possibility for a variety of standpoints to be visible and open to debate. This democratic norm is valid for all decision-making processes and the crucial question is whether a decision-making process highly dependent on qualified scientific expertise would have difficulties meeting such posed democratic criteria. The author makes a systematic empirical and normative analysis of the decision-making process in question, which is anatomised and evaluated against the democratic norm. The overall result of the study is that scientific experts have been able to define the problems on the political agenda and, thereby, had influenced the process as a whole. However, this has not constrained a variety of standpoints to be visible, but views expressed about the experts? problem definitions have prompted more frequent responses from the political decision-makers than other views, which only occasionally have been responded to. The Swedish legislative process concerned with medical gene technology has thereby partly deviated from democratic ideals.

Full text document (Swedish) via link below. the document includes a four page English summary.

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Entered date: 2007-11-16

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Entered date: 2007-11-15
Martin Hall has co-edited the volume Civilizational Identity. The Production and Reproduction of "Civilizations" in International Relations which adds innovative insights to the study of civilisations in world politics. Catarina Kinnvall contributes a chapter on civilisational complexity in India.

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Martin Hall has co-edited the volume Civilizational Identity. The Production and Reproduction of "Civilizations" in International Relations which adds innovative insights to the study of civilisations in world politics. Catarina Kinnvall contributes a chapter on civilisational complexity in India.

Description
As a way of improvising on the study of civilizations in world politics, the volume focuses on those social and political practices through which notions of civilizational identity are reproduced in a variety of contexts ranging from the global credit regime to theological debates about modernity to the 'war on terrorism'. The contributors to the volume explore the ways in which practices of civilizational identity give rise to the effect of a solid object called a 'civilization,' even though this object is itself nothing more than an ensemble of social practices.

Praise for Civilizational Identity
"Here is the research front on relations between civilizations: A thoroughly dialogical immersion in debates on how these cultures writ large hybridize and shape contemporary global life."

-- Iver B. Neumann, Professor of Russian Studies, Oslo University and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Norway

"This volume represents a very timely and profound engagement with the concept of civilization, indispensable to anyone who has tried to think critically and constructively about this concept in international relations."

-- Jens Bartelson, Professor of International Relations, University of Copenhagen

"Hall and Jackson's edited volume exposes the long and troubled history of one of the most frequently used and abused concepts in international relations – the concept of ‘civilization.’ This erudite, sophisticated collection of essays represents a must-read for any scholar of international relations, both as an exploration of the conceptual basis for the West's troubled relation with the rest of the world, and as a theoretical blue print for future critical engagements with the foundations of our discipline."

--Aida A. Hozic, Professor of International Relations, University of Florida

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Table of contents

Introduction--Martin Hall & Patrick Thaddeus Jackson

PART I: CIVILIZATION(S) AND IR THEORY

Discourses of Civilizational Identity--Jacinta O’Hagan

Civilizations as Actors: A Transactional Account--Patrick Thaddeus Jackson

Discussion--Hayward Alker

PART II: CIVILIZATION(S), RELIGION, AND PSYCHOLOGY

Civilizations, Postorientalism, and Islam--Mustapha Kemal Pasha

Not Waiting for the Barbarians--Mark B. Salter

Civilizations, Neo-Ghandianism, and the Hindu Self--Catarina Kinnvall

Discussion--Daniel H. Nexon

PART III: INTER-CIVILIZATIONAL ENCOUNTERS

Marketing Global Standards of Civilization--Leonard Seabrooke & Brett Bowden

The Heterarchic Umma--Peter Mandaville

The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Making of World Order--John Hobson

The Status of Women and the Ordering of Human Societies Along the Stages of Civilization--Ann Towns

Discussion--Jacqueline Best *

PART IV: CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS

Pathways to Civilization--Yale Ferguson

Toward a Fourth Generation of Civilizational Scholarship--Martin Hall

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Entered date: 2007-11-14

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Entered date: 2007-11-08
In an article in Common Market Studies, Ole Elgström discusses how the EU is perceived by outside parties in Trade Negotiations.

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In an article in Common Market Studies, Ole Elgström discusses how the EU is perceived by outside parties in Trade Negotiations.

Abstract .
The question approached in this article is whether the almost unanimous picture, drawn by both academic observers and EU representatives, of the EU as a major power and leading actor in global trade negotiations, is also shared by ”outsiders”. I describe and analyse how representatives of non-EU Member States picture and evaluate the EU’s role in the WTO and the strategies it uses to achieve its goals. Special attention is given to perceived constraints on EU leadership. In brief, my results demonstrate that the EU is indeed seen as a key actor in the WTO but that it is not necessarily seen as a leader. Its leadership potential is diminished by perceived incoherence across issue areas, by a lack of perceived legitimacy and, to a lesser extent, by an excessive focus on internal co-ordination.

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Entered date: 2007-11-08

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Entered date: 2007-11-06

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Entered date: 2007-11-01

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Entered date: 2007-10-31
In a recently published chapter, Matthew Paterson & Johannes Stripple discuss the international organisation and representation of the climate change issue.

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Two recent book chapters by Karin Bäckstrand & Eva Lövbrand and Matthew Paterson & Johannes Stripple discuss the international organisation and representation of the climate change issue. The chapters are published in the volume “The Social Construction of Climate Change. Knowledge, Power, Norms, Discourses”, edited by Mary Pettenger from Western Oregon University, USA.

CONTENTS

List of Contributors vii

Foreword xi

Acknowledgements xvii

List of Abbreviations xix

1 Introduction: Power, Knowledge and the Social Construction of Climate Change 1
Mary E. Pettenger

PART I: NORM-CENTERED PERSPECTIVE

2 Measuring the Domestic Salience of International Environmental Norms: Climate Change Norms in American, German and British Climate Policy Debates 23
Loren R. Cass

3 The Netherlands’ Climate Change Policy: Constructing Themselves/Constructing Climate Change 51
Mary E. Pettenger

4 The Rise of Japanese Climate Change Policy: Balancing the Norms Economic Growth, Energy Efficiency, International Contribution and Environmental Protection 75
Takashi Hattori

5 Constructing Progressive Climate Change Norms: The US in the Early 2000s 99
Cathleen Fogel

PART II: DISCOURSE ANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVE

6 Climate Governance Beyond 2012: Competing Discourses of Green Governmentality, Ecological Modernization and Civic Environmentalism 123
Karin Bäckstrand and Eva Lövbrand

7 Singing Climate Change into Existence: On the Territorialization of Climate Policymaking 149
Matthew Paterson and Johannes Stripple

8 Trust Through Participation? Problems of Knowledge in Climate Decision Making 173
Myanna Lahsen

9 Disrupting the Global Discourse of Climate Change: The Case of Indigenous Voices 197
Heather A. Smith

10 Presence of Mind as Working Climate Change Knowledge: A Totonac Cosmopolitics 217
William D. Smith

11 Conclusion: The Constructions of Climate Change 235
Loren R. Cass and Mary E. Pettenger

Index 247

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Entered date: 2007-10-31
In a recently published chapter, Karin Bäckstrand & Eva Lövbrand hur klimatfrågan har representerats och organiserats på internationell nivå.