| 1. |
- Hudson, Christine, 1950-, et al.
(författare)
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Between Central Control and Local Autonomy : The Changing Role of Swedish Municipalities in the Implementation of Migration Policies
- 2021. - 1
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Ingår i: Local Integration of Migrants Policy. - Cham : Palgrave Macmillan. - 9783030509781 - 9783030509798 ; , s. 11-34
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Swedish migration policy has undergone dramatic changes and has moved from being one of the most generous policies to the minimum EU level. Traditionally refugee reception has been a policy area with a strong tradition of collaboration between national and local government with decentralized decision-making. The role of local government has, however, altered in the face of greater centralization and harder national government steering. This chapter provides a broad picture of Swedish local government’s responsibilities, the changing nature of the role it has played and is playing with regard to refugee reception and integration policies and the challenges it currently faces.
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| 2. |
- Lidén, Gustav, 1983-
(författare)
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Från demokrati till e-demokrati : En jämförande studie av demokratiutveckling i det moderna samhället
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This mainly deductive study examines what factors explain the variation of e-democracy and if, why a causal pathway exists. The deductive feature is carried out through examining the predictions of the modernization theory, testing hypotheses concerning the link between economic development and wealth in relation to e-democracy. Deriving from a theoretical point of departure where e-democracy is conceptualized with the help of democratic theory, this phenomenon is studied in three different but linked empirical parts. A cross-sectional global study did establish a relationship between some of the indicators derived from the theory; however, the magnitude of the explanatory power was lower at the level of e-democracy than at the level of democracy. A cross-sectional national study of all Sweden’s municipalities did show that especially high levels of education were clearly related to high levels of e-democracy. Approaching the questions of causal mechanisms and deviations from the found pattern, case studies did emphasize that the linkage between the structural conditions and actor’s-orientated explanations largely could verify what is deducted from theory. However, the importance of economic possibilities and internal prioritizations inside the political organization was essential for the development of e-democracy and was found through more inductive approaches.The main contribution of this thesis is the results that, both on an aggregated and a micro level, verify the theory but also add other important explanations. Another important conclusion is the creation of a model for e-democracy where a complete e-democracy is linked to democratic theory and not only maintains information, discussion, and decision-making processes through information and communication technology but also does this while strengthening political participation and political equality.
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| 3. |
- Lidén, Gustav, 1983-
(författare)
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Is e-democracy more than democratic? : An examination of the implementation of socially sustainable values in e-democratic processes
- 2012
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Ingår i: Electronic Journal of e-Government. - 1479-439X. ; 10:1, s. 84-94
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A growing literature tries to contribute to a more balanced view of the concept of e-democracy. However, one seldom discussed aspect is the concept’s inadequate dimension on what a desirable development of society consists of. By adding certain values, today most pronounced in the theory of social sustainability, this article examines the awareness of such in three e-democratic projects in Swedish municipalities. This is carried out through a qualitative inquiry that uses different types of data and that regards social sustainability as an ongoing process that is suitable to be analysed in relation to other structures in society. The empirical part reveals different important topics. First it shows that the consciousness of socially sustainable values varies between the examined cases. Second, this variation can be due to both the varying success of e-democracy and to conditions inside the political organizations. In conclusion, this paper reveals that the consequence of adding a socially sustainable perspective to e-democracy is that it provides adequate opportunities for analysing social development without missing out qualities that are desired in a democratic society.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Ehrhart, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Examining the relationship between women’s descriptive political representation and women’s possibility to participate in civil society across regime types
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Civil Society. - : ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. - 1744-8689 .- 1744-8697.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examines the link between women’s representation in national parliaments and their possibility to participate in civil society. Utilizing panel data from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) dataset, covering 1975–2019, we investigate how the presence of women in parliaments influences the possibility for women to participate in civil society, especially in non-liberal democratic settings. The results indicate a positive association post-1990, coinciding with an international emphasis on civil society and a rise in women’s parliamentary representation in both liberal democracies and autocratic regimes. The study however highlights that in hybrid and autocratic regimes, increased female representation can also be used to project a gender-equal image without genuine democratization intentions. These findings suggest a correlation between the increase in women in parliaments and greater opportunities for their participation in civil society, but do not imply that the results reflect processes towards democracy. The findings contribute to understanding women’s possibilities in non-democratic regimes and underscores the need for further qualitative analysis to fully grasp the implications of these trends.
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| 6. |
- Holmqvist, Emma, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Resilience in Local Housing Policy? : Liberal or Restrictive Policy Stances Among Swedish Municipalities Following the Great Migration in the Summer of 2015
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Political Science. - Lausanne, Switzerland : Frontiers research foundation. - 2673-3145. ; 4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The dramatic event that the great migration in the summer of 2015 entailed changed the migration policies of various countries. Substantial amendments were hastily made in a policy field in which already tense state-local relations struggled to manage coordination, responsibilities, and funding. Sweden, recognized as a final host country of the massive flows of refugees and asylum-seekers, was no exception. In Sweden, autonomy in terms of local refugee reception was circumvented in 2016. Municipalities’ remaining discretion is above all concentrated to one of the most crucial spheres of refugee reception: the outline of local housing policies. We argue that housing may be perceived as a tool of resilience that local governments may use to maintain far-reaching influence over the settlement of migrants with a refugee background by selecting restrictive or generous policy options. In this paper, we conduct a theoretically grounded analysis of local housing policy for refugees among Swedish municipalities. To capture the intrinsic dynamic, we propose a generic typology applying the dimension of either a liberal or a restrictive housing policy and relate it to theoretical notions of refugee policy as characterized by either a rights-based or a more restrictive approach. Our findings show that local governments in Sweden pursue a wide array of policy stances that appear to be correlated with factors originating from prior experiences of refugee reception, conditions in the labor and housing markets, and political circumstances. Based on this, we argue that local housing policy has offered municipalities a tool to exert a form of intentional, or unintentional, migration control despite national efforts to impose a more just system of refugee reception.
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| 7. |
- Lidén, Gustav, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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The governance of policy integration and policy coordination through joined‐up government : How subnational levels counteract siloism and fragmentation within Swedish migration policy
- 2023
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Ingår i: Regulation and Governance. - : Wiley. - 1748-5983 .- 1748-5991.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Modern welfare states struggle with fragmented policies and siloed governments, as well as with the need to deal with wicked problems. We argue that addressing such problems from the perspective of central government can be facilitated by notions of joined-up government that, combined with vertical aspects of modern governance, provide a basis for analysis. To embark upon such challenges, we examine policy integration and policy coordination within the complex area of Swedish migration policies in light of the European migrant crisis. Through a content analysis of an extensive qualitative material (interviews and documents), we show that policy integration is weakly associated with joint objectives and decision-making. As a contribution to prior knowledge in the field, we emphasize the unintuitive finding that counteracting siloism and fragmentation in Swedish migration policy is not achieved through coherent governance ranging across tiers, functions, and sectors but mainly at subnational levels through policy coordination relying on a bottom-up approach.
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| 8. |
- Lidén, Gustav, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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From 1.0 to 2.0 : Swedish municipalities online
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Information Technology & Politics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1933-1681 .- 1933-169X. ; 13:4, s. 339-351
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The current study examines the social media use of Swedish municipalities, detailing the potential relationship between traditional forms of e-government initiatives and social media engagement of municipal bodies. By bringing these two forms of digital politics together, a more valid measurement of the supply of online democratic tools for citizen engagement is suggested. Moreover, the potential variation in determinants influencing these two concepts is examined as well. The main results indicate that municipalities’ adoption of social media is related to the procuration of more traditional services through their Web sites. Hence, a tendency of a “rich-get-richer” effect is indicated. In this respect, drivers of the different types of government use of digital services are to some extent similar. According to previous research, population size has a positive effect on the studied phenomena. Somewhat surprisingly, however, other explanatory factors differ. For example, although socioeconomic factors appear to have a positive influence on more traditional forms of online services, previous ambitions of e-government development appear as important for social media adoption by municipalities.
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| 9. |
- Lidén, Gustav, 1983-
(författare)
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Theories of Dictatorships : Sub-Types and Explanations
- 2014
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Ingår i: Studies of Transition States and Societies. - 1736-874X .- 1736-8758. ; 6:1, s. 50-67
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite the third wave of democratisation, dictatorships are still a widespread global phenomenon. In recent years, comparative scholars have shown a renewed interest in such regimes, which has resulted in a significant increase in the volume of research that has been produced. However, such research is not always carried out in a cumulative fashion and, therefore, lacks the traits of a more holistic perspective. Hence, it is appropriate to review this research to try to create opportunities for more systematisation in future studies. This study does this by focusing on two approaches: that is providing definitions of non-democracies, but also developing a framework for empirical explanations of these regimes. Addressing the first approach reveals gaps in previous definitions of dictatorships, which is something that is managed by stating a theoretically founded conceptualisation. Moreover, scrutinising the typologies of dictatorships and their variants provided by previous research reveals some loosely connected or almost arbitrary alternatives. Such flaws are discussed and solutions are given. Regarding the second approach, this article discusses findings on how both the existence of and the transition to dictatorships and their variants can be systematised. The outcome is a framework that can be applied in future research. To conclude, there is still much that is unknown about both the description and the explanation of dictatorships, but by systematising recent research this article sets out a more unified strategy.
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| 10. |
- Lund, Pontus, et al.
(författare)
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Who talks and who listens? A qualitative analysis of citizen dialogues in rural Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: Local Government Studies. - : Routledge. - 0300-3930 .- 1743-9388. ; 48:1, s. 129-149
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inclusion in local policy processes through citizen dialogue has been depicted as both the solution to many democratic challenges and a democratic problem in itself. Nevertheless, it has been widely adopted throughout Europe. The hierarchically flat, co-governing setup of these instruments can be expected to clash with representative-heavy political cultures, such as that in Sweden, which raises questions about what role they end up having in this context and whether they complement representative democracy. By conducting a comparative study of two rural Swedish municipalities, we confirmed that traditional, hierarchical governance indeed dominates the studied processes. Our results also suggest that, due to skewed participation and unclear input handling, the studied instrument does not appear to constitute a viable complementary democratic institution in terms of representation. Instead, we argue that, conducted in this way, it may potentially fill a range of different purposes without aspiring to fully complement representative democracy.
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