| 1. |
- Erlingsson, Gissur, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding Large-Scale Institutional Change : Social Conflicts and the Politics of Swedish Municipal Amalgamations 1952-1974
- 2015
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of History. - London : Taylor & Francis. - 0346-8755 .- 1502-7716. ; 40:2, s. 195-214
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A remarkable reform in modern Swedish political history was the transformation of the local government structure between 1952 and 1974. In a mere 22 years, the number of municipalities was reduced from 2,498 to 277. This study aims to answer how such large-scale reforms could come about politically, particularly since much of the literature on institutions and political reform asserts that carrying out large-scale political change should be a difficult task. Two opposing stories of institutional change are presented: evolutionary accounts, which see the amalgamations as rational adaptations to changing circumstances, are contrasted with a social conflict perspective, which explains amalgamations in terms of their distributional consequences. By investigating the processes leading up to this vast restructuring of Swedish local political geography, we demonstrate that an understanding of these reforms as rational adaptations to changing circumstances, made on the basis of consensus among leading political actors, is not accurate. The reforms were not as uncontroversial and non-conflictual as they often have been portrayed. Our results weaken the evolutionary approach to institutional change, whilst supporting the social conflict perspective.
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| 2. |
- Wångmar, Erik, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Historians and Their Sources : The use of unpublished source material in Swedish doctoral theses in history, 1959-2015, and in student bachelor's and master's theses, 2010-2015
- 2018
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of History. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0346-8755 .- 1502-7716. ; 43:3, s. 365-386
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study analyses the development of the use of unpublished source material in Swedish doctoral theses in history, 1959–2015. The results show that the proportion of theses which rely on such materials has dropped in relation to the level that existed up to and including the year 2007. From having dropped below 90% only twice during the time period 1959–2007, the average for the years 2008–2015 is 77%. There are several explanations as to why this decline in use of unpublished source material has occurred. An initial explanation is that more doctoral theses are now published within the subdiscipline of historical science, in which, for example, history didactics and uses of history are included. History didactics and uses of history have gained more ground within the overall field of historical research during the last 10 years. The next-to-lowest figures are found in the category history of ideas, culture, and opinion history; a category which during the time period 2008–2015 remained at a fairly constant share of the total number of doctoral defences in history in Sweden in relation to the situation at the beginning of the 2000s.
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