| 31. |
- Dahl, Matilda, 1978-
(författare)
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States under scrutiny : International organizations, transformation and the construction of progress
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Opinions, rankings and evaluations of states’ development are proliferating. In the context of the transformation and EU accession of the Baltic States, there were many organizations involved in the scrutiny of their efforts to become accepted as modern and European. This scrutiny directed towards states can be seen as a new practice of transnational regulation. Especially in times of major transformation, as was the case in the Baltic States after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, monitoring and evaluation of achievements can be expected to shape how reforms were prioritized and how problems were perceived. In order to gain a better understanding of these transformations it is necessary to study the practice of organizations that scrutinize the states.The aim of the thesis is to analyze the role of scrutiny as a practice of transnational regulation. By analyzing how international organizations scrutinize states, this thesis adds knowledge to how transforming states are constructed in the everyday practices of scrutiny. A main argument is that by evaluating and reporting on states, international organizations can be seen as ‘auditors’ of transformations in states. The thesis compares three such ‘auditors’ and their respective relations to the states under scrutiny, namely: the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the NGO Transparency International. The thesis contributes to discussions about the role of transnational regulation in the transformation of states. By comparing the three cases of scrutiny it is concluded that scrutiny produces both comfort and critique for and about these transforming states. In addition, through processes of scrutinizing, states are constructed as auditable and comparable. Scrutiny also inscribes states into a story about progress, it thus offers hope about reforms and of a better future.
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| 32. |
- Danielsson, Anna, 1980-
(författare)
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On the Power of Informal Economies and the Informal Economies of Power : Rethinking Informality, Resilience and Violence in Kosovo
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Since the 1970s, the concept of “economic informality” has served as focal point for a comprehensive scholarly thinking and the development of policy initiatives enhanced by international organisations. Yet, informality displays a puzzling resilience. The problematique of this book concerns the lenses through which informality has been constituted, studied and acted upon as an empirical phenomenon. By developing a critical understanding of informality as object of study, the book uncovers the historical, scholarly and practitioner contexts in which contemporary conceptualisations of informality are constituted.The author argues that three dominant and conventional approaches to informality systematically fail to account for how the reasons behind people's participation in informal economic activities are constituted by an internal and hierarchically structured social order. To transcend the identified shortcomings of the established approaches, the book rethinks informality through a comprehensive power analysis and highlights the importance of hierarchy, covert violence and domination. A central assumption of this rethinking is that informality constitutes a social phenomenon that emerges and is expressed through social practices, which over time and across space have become institutionalised to the point that informality is considered commonsensical and unchangeable. By putting the reconceptualisation to use through the thinking of Pierre Bourdieu, the book performs an empirical analysis of the nexus between resilience, symbolic violence and informal economic practices in Kosovo from the late 1980s until 2011. Based on primary research material, the analysis offers a unique insight into informal dynamics and illuminates the workings of an intrinsic, circular, malleable and ambiguous system of domination that would otherwise remain hidden.By engaging the empirical, theoretical and meta-theoretical level at the same time, the book explores the twofold constitution of informality as a social phenomenon and brings to light a new understanding of the resilience of the informal. As such, the reconceptualisation forms a critical intervention into scholarly and practitioner discussions about informality. By revealing mechanisms of domination, the book offers an alternative and fruitful account of the socio-historical weave within which practices of informality in Kosovo crystallise.
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| 33. |
- Doeser, Fredrik
(författare)
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In Search of Security After the Collapse of the Soviet Union : Foreign Policy Change in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, 1988-1993
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to explain the evolution of foreign policy in Denmark, Finland and Sweden with regard to Western security cooperation between 1988 and 1993. The study sets out to test two theoretical perspectives on the security cooperation policies of these three small states. The external political perspective is based on the idea that foreign policy is determined by the challenges of a state’s external political environment. The domestic political perspective is based on the idea that phenomena at the domestic level of the state have an impact on how governments cope with external constraints. The primary theoretical ambition is to integrate the findings from these two analyses in order to further an understanding of the mechanisms of foreign policy change in small states.In order to study the relationship between the environment and foreign policy change, the author applies a perceptual approach, which means that his intention is to explain foreign policy action on the basis of the perceptions actors have of the environment.The author draws a number of conclusions with regard to the mechanisms of foreign policy change. First, a perceptual approach is needed in order to analyze a state’s specific responses to international political change. Second, domestic factors are not only important for foreign policy in general but also for the evolution of security cooperation policy in small states under conditions of fundamental shift in the international system. Third, it is possible to attribute some degree of relative explanatory power to external factors and to assign a range of different roles to domestic factors. Fourth, governments of Western democratic small states pay relatively equal attention to external and domestic considerations when making their foreign policies. However, depending on the situation, the relative potency of external and domestic factors can vary.
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| 34. |
- Douglas, Christina, 1978-
(författare)
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Kärlek per korrespondens : Två förlovade par under andra hälften av 1800-talet
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I Kärlek per korrespondens söker historikern Christina Douglas utifrån två pars förlovningsbrev inte bara kunskap om utan även förståelse för hur det under andra hälften aa under 1800-talet kunde te sig att initiera, konstruera och leva inom en kärleksrelation. Vi får följa de två paren Erik och Sophia och Hanna och Harald från att drömmen om en kärleksrelation uppkom, genom förlovningsntiden och fram till bröllopet.Det är kärlekens existentiella aspekter som befinner sig i blickfånget, upplevelsen av att älska och att vara älskad samt mötet mellan den upplevelsen och då gängse föreställningar om kärlek och äktenskap.Därutöver lyfter Douglas fram den betydelse breven hade i de båda parens relationer, inte minst genom att visa på brevets möjligheter att lösa upp såväl tid som rum och därmed fungera som en mötesplats för älskande.
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| 35. |
- Eellend, Johan
(författare)
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Cultivating the Rural Citizen : Modernity, Agrarianism and Citizenship in Late Tsarist Estonia
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation studies the ideas and political practices produced in the emerging rural public sphere in late Tsarist Estonia. The time period is characterized by radical social and economic change and growing national and political self consciousness. An underlying aim is to study the emergence and character of an agrarian ideology in Estonia, with a special concern paid for ideas on the organization of society.The first section examines the emerging of Estonian language agricultural instruction books and agricultural journals. Studying the content and the advice on modernization and organization of farm work uncovers their underlying ideas on the organization of the rural society. The second section deals with the ideas and ideals presented in the agricultural instructions through the work of local agricultural associations and agricultural cooperatives. Finally the ideals of the agricultural instructions and the practice of the associations are studied on a national level, as expressed at the Agricultural Congresses 1899 and 1905 and the All-Estonian Congress 1905.The study emphasizes the importance of the rural sphere in creating the foundation for the interwar Estonian society and shows significant ideological and organizational similarities between the Estonian agrarian movement and contemporary agrarian movements in Europe.
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| 36. |
- Ek, Arne, 1950-
(författare)
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Att konstruera en uppslutning kring den enda vägen : Om folkrörelsers modernisering i skuggan av det östeuropeiska systemskiftet
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is about some Swedish organizations that are connected to the labour movement and their actions to cope with the new hegemony around market liberalism. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90-ties, the liberal order, meaning market economy and democracy reduced to the election of elites, has become totally domineering both in the western and in the former communist world. Even left wing oriented organizations have adopted their operations and activities accordingly, especially in their internal governing structure. The organizations that I have studied, mainly the Swedish Tenants organization at its local level of Stockholm, developed during the 70-ties and the 80-ties a participatorier member structure. The “Swedish model” of consensus/corporative decision-making and agreement, used by them on the national level for decades, was during that period introduced also on local and regional levels. In the 90-ties these organizations, according to earlier studies, have instead adapted a more costumer-oriented and elite-democratic way of operating and governing. These later changes could be seen as contradicting both the development of the 80-ties and the basic values of those organizations. My questions are therefore how these changes became possible and my aim is to study how the active members have contributed to this development. Using a constructionist theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, I am showing how this potential conflict between a participatory and an elite-democratic model can be reconciled by a discursive construction. The active members have in fact been able see these changes just as a modernization of their organization. From their point-of-view their organization still works in a participatory democratic way. My analysis shows how this ambiguousness and potential paradox became possible thru internal discourses and under influence from the liberal hegemony.
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| 37. |
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| 38. |
- Ekblom, Birgitta
(författare)
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Härskarhyllning och påverkan : Panegyriken kring tronskiftet 1697 i det svenska Östersjöväldet
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how Swedish-language printed panegyrics of Karl XI and Karl XII, written in connection with the 1697 royal succession, functioned as a channel for political communication in the Swedish Baltic empire. The material comprises 34 Swedish-language printed items from Sweden, Finland, and Swedish Pomerania. The analyses focus on features of both content and form in terms of commonly applied topics and characteristics typical of the genre. The analyses demonstrate how panegyrics surrounding the royal succession varied in regard to geographical origin, individual authors, choice of format, content, audience and presentational situation. To elucidate the variation within the genre, texts in octavo, folio and patent folio formats are analysed. The first analytical section of the thesis, chapter 3, contains analyses of texts in these formats as well as depictions of events in Stockholm in connection with the parliament and the funeral. Chapter 4 illuminates the components of the coronation tributes, and coronation homages to Karl XII are examined. Chapter 5 treats panegyrics from Sweden, outside the capital, and from Finland. Chapter 6 analyses some panegyric texts from the Baltic provinces and the German possessions, and the rhetorical staging of the royal succession is depicted in these areas as well. The texts analysed were part of the public sphere of the day, evincing propagandistic features, including similar topics and reasoning. Despite this, they differ in terms of implicit argumentation and other matters. Some promote the Carolingian empire, cast suspicion on and threaten opponents and defend Karl XII’s early accession. Others stress issues unrelated to royal power or express wishes regarding the new king’s future exercise of power. The analyses bring to light a number of symbolically significant places and buildings, as well as various horizontal and vertical positions that characterise the bards, any sponsors they might have had, and the intended audience. Thus, the dissertation can be said to deal with a rhetorical geography in which the Swedish Baltic empire constitutes a shared rhetorical space.
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| 39. |
- Ellencrona, Karin, 1973-
(författare)
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Functional characterization of interactions between the flavivirus NS5 protein and PDZ proteins of the mammalian host
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Flaviviruses are found all over the world and affect and infect millions of people every year. Flavivirus infection can lead to severe clinical outcomes resulting in neuronal damages e.g. Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), or severe hemorrhagic fevers e.g. Dengue virus (DENV). In order to effectively treat infected patients and to prevent these diseases we must understand how these viruses work and how they interfere with the mammalian host. This thesis is focusing on interactions between the virus protein NS5 and human host cell proteins. The interactions presented here might be key factors for out-come of viral disease. NS5 is the largest of the non-structural proteins and is essential for the replication and the capping as it contains both RNA dependent RNA polymerase and Methyltransferase domains. We found that TBEV NS5 interacts with human PDZ domain protein Scribble, a polarization protein important e.g. in regulating membrane trafficking. We determined that the interaction depend on a novel internal motif in TBEVNS5. This interaction could be correlated to NS5s ability to interfere with the immune system as absence of Scribble prevented NS5 from blocking phosphorylation of STAT upon Interferon induction. The role of NS5 in human PDZ domain targeting was addressed further by using a PDZ array system. Both TBEVNS5 and DENVNS5 bind additional PDZ domains using the internal motif. The tight junction protein ZO-1 binds both DENVNS5 and TBEVNS5. DENVNS5 is mainly present in the nucleus and co-localize with ZO-1 in un-polarized cells. In polarized cells TBEVNS5 and ZO-1 co-localize at the plasmamembrane. Putative C-terminal PDZ binding motifs of TBEVNS5 and WNVNS5 were characterized using the PDZ array system. This detected four novel binding partners of TBEVNS5 but numerous of potential WNVNS5 binding partners. We found that TBEVNS5 co-localizes with ZO-2 in the cellular membrane. Further, we found that TBEVNS5 induce the AP-1 by a 2 fold over the control.
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| 40. |
- Ers, Agnes, 1970-
(författare)
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I mänsklighetens namn : En etnologisk studie av ett svenskt biståndsprojekt i Rumänien
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation is an analysis of observations among, and interviews with, Romanian and Swedish employees at a Swedish development aid project in Romania. The aim has been to study the categories of ‘humanity’: how the notions of the ‘human(e)’ and the ‘inhuman(e)’ were created in the context of the project. Further, the aim of the thesis has been to connect the relations in everyday life as it develops in an aid project to the social and societal processes of change in today’s Europe.Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical and methodological frameworks of the study. Chapter 2 analyses media representations of institutionalized children in Romania, and describes the development aid in Romania. Chapter 3 describes and analyses the practical work with the children in the everyday life of the project. Chapter 4 focuses on the locally employed project staff, and their adoption of a ‘more human(e)’ identity through working with the Swedish NGO. Chapter 5 analyses how the construction of difference took place in the everyday life of the development aid project. Chapter 6 analyses the development aid as exchange of gifts and applies models of analysis of social work with the so-called deserving and undeserving clients. Chapter 7 is a concluding chapter.The construction of the ‘human(e)’ and its opposite, the ‘inhuman(e)’, could be found on three levels. These categories were used in reference to: (1) the children, the sick elderly and the poor families that were the clients of the aid project and were expected to be ‘humanized’ in the course of project implementation; (2) the Romanians who were employed by the Swedish organization and who were to be humanized through their work and through learning Western views on what the human being is; and (3) by implication, the whole Romanian society and all the Romanians who were also to be ‘humanized’ through the intervention of the Western NGOs.
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