| 1. |
- Podolian, Olena, 1983-
(författare)
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The Challenge of ‘Stateness’ in Estonia and Ukraine
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this dissertation is to examine the influence of the international actors i.e. the OSCE, Council of Europe, EU and Russia, on policy and legislative adaptation in two post-Soviet countries since 1991. These are Estonia and Ukraine. The central concept analysed in the dissertation is stateness. It is defined following Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan (1996) as congruence between the territorial definition and the right of citizenship in the state, which has the monopoly on the legitimate use of force in the territory, and an effective state bureaucracy. For the analysis, certain policy areas are chosen which operationalise the dimensions of stateness: monopoly on the use of force (borders, army and police), state identity (citizenship, national minorities and language), and basic administration (public administration, education and information). In the democratisation and state-building literature, stateness is a neglected concept, as is the international influence on it. Surprisingly so, as it is an important condition for state and regime stability, especially democracy. To address this gap, the dissertation clarifies the definition of the concept of stateness and analyses the international influence on it in the two countries. This dissertation centres on the impact of the international actors as the causal factor in consolidation of stateness. To investigate this, it analyses in a systematic manner the influence of their policy demands and expectations on adaptation (i.e. policy adoption and change) in the policy areas operationalising stateness in Estonia and Ukraine. As part of the analysis, it provides a detailed overview and comparison of the policy- and legislation-making in both countries after their independence in 1991. The method chosen is a cross-case comparison carried out according to a time-periodisation approach. The analysis illustrates the converging yet context-contingent impact of the international actors in the policy areas operationalising stateness. Therefore, the main finding confirms the emerging consensus in the literature that the international actors have an increasing yet differential impact in traditionally domestic policy areas. The dissertation’s contribution is twofold. First is the theoretical and conceptual contribution to state-building in comparative European politics by clarifying the definition of the concept of stateness. Second is the empirical contribution by providing an applicable operationalisation of the concept through policy areas, which permits its empirical analysis.
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| 2. |
- Björklund, Fredrika, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Legitimising Surveillance in Low-Trust Postcommunist Societies
- 2022
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Ingår i: Europe-Asia Studies. - : Routledge. - 0966-8136 .- 1465-3427. ; 74:6, s. 919-944
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Why do citizens in democratic states allow governments to monitor them? Studies note that consent to surveillance to a large extent depends on trust in public institutions. But how is surveillance legitimised in states where this kind of trust is low, as in most of the European postcommunist countries? Using data from three former communist states, this study investigates the role of trust in close social networks. The results show that so-called 'particular social trust' may work as a substitute for trust in institutions. Particular social trust may produce legitimacy for policy measures, in this case, surveillance.
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| 3. |
- Björklund, Fredrika, 1959-
(författare)
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Trust and surveillance : An odd couple or a perfect pair?
- 2021
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Ingår i: Trust and Transparency in an Age of Surveillance. - London : Routledge. - 9781003120827 - 9780367638160 ; , s. 183-200
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How can we understand the relationship between trust and surveillance? This chapter reconsiders empirical findings that indicate a positive correlation between trust in public institutions and acceptance of surveillance, contrasting these findings to studies that claim that surveillance is destructive of trust. To resolve these contradictory views, this chapter discusses institutional and sociocultural theories of trust to shed light on the trust-surveillance nexus and argues that a sociocultural perspective opens space for considering how social changes may affect the trust-surveillance relationship.
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| 4. |
- Björklund, Fredrika, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Value change : Related to the process of democratisation in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia
- 2004
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How have people in the three Baltic states changed after the fall of the Soviet Union? Do they trust the new political institutions? How do they look upon gender equality, homosexuality or abortion? What differences are there between the three countries, and how can they be explained? These are some of the questions addressed in this report. The analyses are based on data from a series of surveys carried out as part of the research project "Democracy and Social Transition in the Baltic Sea Region" at Södertörns högskola (University College)
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| 5. |
- Svenonius, Ola, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Explaining attitudes to secret surveillance in post-communist societies
- 2018
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Ingår i: East European Politics. - : Routledge. - 2159-9165 .- 2159-9173. ; 34:2, s. 123-151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article seeks to explain public attitudes to secret surveillance. Secret surveillance, for example wiretapping by intelligence agencies, is a controversial activity that affects fundamental civil liberties in any democratic system. Several large research projects have recently attempted to explain how people form opinions about surveillance in general. Thereby privacy concerns and institutional trust are often highlighted. In this article, we argue that earlier research uses a too narrow definition of attitudes to surveillance and that secret surveillance is particularly sensitive due to its opaque character. We introduce a two-dimensional concept that focuses on rationalistic and emotional responses to surveillance. Drawing on new data from three post-communist societies – Estonia, Poland, and Serbia – we show how institutional trust is mainly responsible for explaining acceptance of secret surveillance, but not how one feels about it. Instead, it is the level of ontological insecurity and privacy concerns that explains this second dimension. The results are theorised and implications for future research are discussed.
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| 6. |
- Svenonius, Ola, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Surveillance from a Post-Communist Perspective
- 2018
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Ingår i: Surveillance & Society. - : Surveillance Studies Network. - 1477-7487. ; 16:3, s. 269-276
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This special issue is the result of a research initiative that began in 2013, just before the annexation of Crimea by Russia. We, the guest editors, together with Pawel Waszkiewicz at the University in Warsaw, wanted to fill a gap in research on surveillance, which had at that time not yet addressed post-communist societies to any great extent. Today the situation is slightly different, but the need for further research is still pressing. It is therefore with great pleasure that we present a collection of five research articles by both senior and early-stage researchers, as well as a postscript by Professor Emeritus Maria Los, who is one of the few researchers who has written extensively on surveillance-related issues from a post-communist perspective. Below we introduce the special issue with a conceptual overview of post-communist research and its connections to surveillance studies.
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| 7. |
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