| 1. |
- Notini Burch, Cecilia, 1981-
(författare)
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A Cold War Pursuit : Soviet refugees in Sweden, 1945-54
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- What determines refugee policies in liberal democracies? Humanitarianism? International relations? Economics? Identity issues? International law? Concerns for national security? This book explores these factors through a case study of non-aligned Sweden’s management of Soviet refugees during the first decade of the Cold War. The policy of admission and political asylum; the government’s handling of direct Soviet demands regarding refugees; the Swedish authorities’ surveillance strategies and the continuing living conditions of individuals who were permitted to stay, are all studied in depth. The results demonstrate that refugees’ right to protection was successively strengthened during the period, as asylum policies were reformulated as a matter more of (international) law than (national) politics. That said, however, some refugees – Russian speakers in particular – were generally regarded as more untrustworthy than others and were subjected to severe control measures, such as, for example, rigorous restrictions placed on their movement. The treatment they received fluctuated significantly in tandem with the bipolar tensions of the Cold War. Here, ethnic prejudice influenced perceptions of threat.This book thus contributes to our understanding of the Cold War and the considerable impact it had on widespread aspects of society. However, it also facilitates a more thorough comprehension of the fundamental prerequisites of refugee policies in general. In particular, it pertains to the paramount question: what are the conditions for humanitarian policies in times of international tension? This is a highly relevant issue in the post 9/11 world in which security concerns and migration policies are firmly entangled, and where counter-terrorism measures have increased the difficulties faced by all refugees who strive to reach the West.
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| 2. |
- Helgesson, Magnus
(författare)
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Unemployment and sick leave at a young age and associations with future health and work
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this register-based longitudinal study was to explore the relationship between exposure to unemployment and sick leave at a young age and later health and work related outcomes. A comparison was also made between immigrants and native Swedes. The study population consisted of all immigrants, born between 1968 and 1972, and a random sample of native Swedes in the same age range. The follow-up period was 15 years, divided into three 5-year periods. Unemployment in 1992 was associated with later ≥60 days of sickness absence, disability pension and, for all subjects except native Swedish women, also mortality during follow-up. The risk of future sickness absence was about the same in all three follow-up periods. There was an increased risk of ≥100 days of unemployment in all three follow-up periods, but the risk declined, however, until the last follow-up period. Higher level of education at baseline as well as education attained between 1993 and 1997 decreased the risk of future unemployment. Participating in active labour market programmes was associated with higher risk of future unemployment. The risk of both future unemployment and future sickness absence increased with the length of unemployment in 1992. Immigrants had a higher risk of unemployment both at baseline and at follow-up compared with native Swedes, but matched the pattern of native Swedes during follow-up. Exposure to ≥60 days of sickness absence in 1993 was associated with increased risk for ≥60 days of sickness absence, ≥100 days of unemployment, disability pension and mortality during follow-up compared with no sick leave at baseline. The income from work, during the follow-up period, among individuals with spells of sick leave ≥60 days in 1993 was around two-thirds of that of individuals not on >60 days of sick leave. There was a rapid increase in future work absence for the first 1–7 days of sick leave claimed. Thereafter there was a lower, but steady increase in days of future work absence for every increase in sick leave. This of course affects the individual in the first place and to a society it means substantial costs in the form of increased welfare payments, and loss of productivity and tax income.
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| 3. |
- Mazetti Petersson, Andreas, 1983-
(författare)
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A Culture for the Christian Commonwealth : Antonio Possevino, Authority, History, and the Venetian Interdict
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this study, I investigate the authorial intentions of the early modern Jesuit Antonio Possevino (1533–1611) aiming to contribute to the understanding of his activities as an author, diplomatic administrator and missionary. I carry out analyses of his evaluative criteria of various topics and disciplines, such as history, geography, and politics. I also problematise earlier research on the Venetian Interdict Controversy of 1606 and 1607, in which he participated. Main sources to the investigation are the Apparato All’Historia and the Coltura Degl’Ingegni which were initially included in the bibliography Bibliotheca Selecta, as well as the Soldato Christiano. These sources are compared with three pamphlets written during the Interdict Controversy: the Nuova Risposta di Giovanni Filoteo d’Asti, Risposta di Teodoro Eugenio di Famagosta, and Risposta del Sig. Paolo Anafesto. My point of departure for the textual interpretation, are the transcriptions of the sources that I have produced. The methodology of interpretation borrows from Quentin Skinner’s hermeneutics of recovering authorial intentions, without succumbing to a narrow contextualist view. I have complemented Skinner’s approach with the concept of historicity, which accepts person to be able to relate to one’s historical context without being locked inside it. In the analysis, I use concepts to make the implicit meanings of the texts explicit. The framework for Possevino’s texts concerns deliberative rhetoric, which aims either to exhort or dissuade readers to imitate given historical exempla. In his task of persuasion, emphasis is put on the moral dimensions of the transcendentals (bonum, unum, and verum). The transcendentals also function as his evaluative criteria.Important to the analysis is the concept of traditions. The point of departure for the use of this concept is Alasdair MacIntyre’s definition of tradition as a community with a shared ability to refer to canonical texts, which also shares the understanding of justice, authority, and sovereignty. In my analysis, I show that conflict arose between two rival traditions, one Roman and one Venetian, during the Interdict Controversy. The first part of this study function as foundation for understanding the content that Possevino produced during the Interdict Controversy. Here, I discuss biographical notes about Possevino, as well as characteristics of the early modern Society of Jesus. In the second part, I investigate Possevino’s definition of culture, his evaluation of disciplines, and his use of the principle of accommodation. In the third part, I provide a survey of the early modern Republic of Venice, as well as an analysis of the debates about authority during the Interdict Controversy. In closing, the results of my investigation show that Possevino’s intentions consist of contributions to the common good, which add to a cohesive Catholic culture.
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| 4. |
- Memišević, Alma, 1972-
(författare)
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Det undervisande fritidshemmet i lärandets tidevarv : En diskursanalytisk studie med fokus på de naturvetenskapliga och tekniska undervisningspraktikerna
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- School-age educare centres (SAEC) have traditionally been places with room for play and for the realization of children’s interests, initiatives, and needs. In recent years, there have been discursive shifts, where SAEC has moved from a social pedagogical arena towards an educational pedagogical one. This change is the focus of this dissertation’s study, which aims to contribute knowledge about how science and technology are expressed in SAEC teaching.The study is ethnographically inspired, and video observations and field notes, as well as formal and informal interviews have been used as data collection methods. The study has been conducted at three different SAEC with diverse conditions. One is located at a compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities, one is an outdoor SAEC, and one is what could be described as an 'ordinary' SAEC that reflects contemporary conditions of SAEC; a large number of enrolled students, inadequate facilities, and a low proportion of staff with pedagogical training. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) in accordance with Norman Fairclough has been used as a theoretical and methodological framework.The study’s results indicate that there is a desire among SAEC staff to conduct goal-directed teaching, that is, to plan teaching in advance, based on the curriculum’s goals, to carry it out systematically so that all students have access to the teaching, and to base it on students’ interests. The results show the challenges that SAEC staff face in delivering the teaching. These include difficulties in finding time and space for teaching, getting students to want to participate, and getting them interested. Another challenge is the difficulty of implementing SAEC group-oriented approach within SAEC in compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities. SAEC staff mostly rely on traditional teaching methods, mainly developed within the framework of the school. At the same time, the results show other ways of realizing the teaching mission, based on interdisciplinary and situation-based approaches.The results show tensions between tradition and renewal in SAEC practice. In previous research, this field of tension has been referred to as a struggle between an older social pedagogical tradition and a newer educational pedagogical tradition. This tension has arisen from political efforts to build a knowledge society with a strong focus on improving students’ academic performance and has contributed to focusing on SAEC as an attractive arena that has the potential to contribute to the school’s goal fulfilment; this risks blurring the differences and boundaries between school and SAEC, as well as between play and learning.
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| 5. |
- Petersson, Gustav Jakob, 1981-
(författare)
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Insurance and cartels through wars and depressions : Swedish Marine insurance and reinsurance between the World Wars
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to enhance our understanding of Swedish marine insurers' choices of business strategies under the potentially difficult business circumstances of the interwar period 1918-1939. Little previous research exists on marine insurance during the interwar period. This is remarkable in the Swedish context since the Swedish economy has traditionally depended on its exports. The focus on Sweden is justified since the Swedish insurance market saw regulatory stability during the interwar period. It was also characterised by the coexistence of stock and mutual insurers, allowing this thesis to contribute with insights on potentially problematic insurance cartelisaton. This thesis employs a mixed methods design, including qualitative methods and regression analysis. To interpret results, this thesis employs insurance risk theory, cartel theory, theories on reinsurance and risk diversification, and agency theory. By employing this combination of theories, it is possible to explain choices and outcomes of adopted strategies both with reference to particularities of marine insurance and with reference to particularities of the two different organisational forms. The results show that the insurers conceived several new characteristics of their business environment as challenges and implemented both cartel strategies and company-specific strategies of risk diversification. Among the challenges were rapid inflation, rapidly decreasing prices and business volumes in shipping and trade, the introduction of motor ships, and the existence of naval mines on many trade routes. Also, exchange-rate fluctuations were considered to cause losses on established marine insurance contracts and rendered business results uncertain. Swedish insurers adopted cartel strategies from 1918 through The Swedish Association of Marine Underwriters (Sjöassuradörernas Förening) since they had anticipated a post-war crisis. Market division agreements were adopted for the most attractive market segments, but eventually price agreements became the primary cartel strategy, supported by prohibitions of competition. The work on price agreements sometimes increased the market efficiency since it reduced uncertainty, for instance in insurance of cargo with motor ships. Few price agreements were however adopted for the insurance of shipping since that market segment was dominated by mutual insurers, highlighting the difficulties of cartelisation in insurance markets inhabited by both stock and mutual insurers. The cartel further adopted reinsurance agreements to create barriers to entry in the Swedish marine insurance market. It however experienced prominent difficulties to implement the cartel strategies. One prominent difficulty of implementation was cheating. Also international competition created difficulties. The cartel companies therefore engaged in international cartelisation through The International Union of Marine Insurance (Internationaler Tranport-Versicherungs-Verband) from the late 1920s. This international cartel sought to reduce international competition by agreements not to compete in foreign markets. It also sought to manage the exchange-rate fluctuations of the early 1920s and the early 1930s by agreements among marine insurers, but it failed to obtain sufficient support. In spite of cartelisation, the returns on marine insurance were pushed down by the recognized challenges during the early 1920s, inflicting losses. The business however recovered and remained profitable throughout the 1930s, showing that the great depression was not as great as the deflation crisis in marine insurance. Exchange-rate fluctuations affected the international competitive strength of both stock and mutual insurers and additionally influenced the stock insurers' returns on established marine insurance contracts. The insurers were however compensated for the poor marine business results of the early 1920s by greater reliance than previously on reinsurers and by diversification among insurance lines, which rendered profits less negative than the returns on marine insurance. The business ceded to reinsurers on average inflicted losses during each of the first seven years of the 1920s. These losses were indirectly caused by World War I since that war had caused the establishment of new reinsurers in different countries, not the least in Scandinavia, and in turn caused over capacity during the 1920s. New contractual formulations evolved internationally to the benefit of ceding insurers, indicating information asymmetries. Exits became frequent among reinsurers. In effect, into the 1930s, ceding insurers internationally found it difficult to obtain obligatory reinsurance treaties. During the early 1920s, the Swedish stock marine insurers also increasingly diversified their insurance businesses among insurance lines. This process had been catalysed by World War I, was accelerated during the 1920s, and continued into the 1930s.
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| 6. |
- Fahlström, Magnus, 1971-
(författare)
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Teaching mathematics in a physical environment : Act, react, or avoid?
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis aims to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding teachers’ experience of and perspective on the elements and aspects of the physical environment connected to teaching and learning in general and in mathematics in particular. Teachers are an underutilised source of knowledge in research on the physical environment. In mathematics education, this research is often limited to tools and artefacts.The data in the thesis comes from semi-structured interviews with mathematics teachers, a systematic literature search for mathematics research related to the physical environment, and an online survey where teachers assessed classroom descriptions for teaching adequacy. The interview data was analysed using narrative analysis and content analysis. The research publications from the literature search were analysed with an extension of the didactical triangle as an analytical tool. This tool was also used to analyse the interview data a second time. Conjoint analysis was used to analyse the data from the online survey.The thesis makes two methodological contributions. The first is the extension of the didactical triangle, which makes the interactions between the teacher, the students, the learning content, and the elements and aspects of the physical environment visible. The second is the novel application of conjoint analysis, which enables the analysis of the relative importance of a few seemingly equally important aspects of the physical school environment.The results contribute to understanding three types of situations. Under enabling physical conditions, teachers can act as desired, and under hindering conditions, they react and adjust the activity or avoid it altogether. The results also show that classroom acoustics, spaciousness, and freedom of movement are most important for teachers.In conclusion, this understanding of the role of the physical environment in the teaching and learning situation is vital for daily educational practice.
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| 7. |
- Petersson, Gustav Jakob, 1981-
(författare)
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Swedish marine insurance between the World Wars
- 2010
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The present licentiate thesis analyses developments in Swedish marine insurance during the interwar period, including both direct marine insurance and marine reinsurance. This is done in order to provide insights on how companies of a highly internationalised and vulnerable line of insurance were affected by and responded to new risks during a period of far-reaching international financial and economic crises. Finally, the consequences of new risks and strategies are assessed. This thesis argues that during the interwar period Swedish maritime trade and Swedish marine insurance greatly depended on each other for marine insurance cover and marine insurance premium incomes. The business results in Swedish marine insurance partly depended on the development of Swedish trade. These business results were also vulnerable to currency risks. Swedish marine insurers faced no similar trade or currency risks during the two decades preceding World War I, and accordingly the returns on Swedish marine insurance were lower during the interwar period than during the last two pre-war decades. These factors probably bore their most severe consequences during the early 1920s when Swedish marine insurance on average induced losses to insurers. The remaining years of the period constituted a long-run recovery, and the Great Depression of the early 1930s caused no difficulties of the same order. This thesis also indicates that interwar Swedish marine insurers responded to new risks by increasing the level of cession to reinsurers. Another response was to increase the level of differentiation among insurance lines. This thesis describes the consequences of new risks and strategies in interwar Swedish marine insurance, focusing on the development of the Swedish marine insurance market structure and on the business results of Swedish marine insurers. Though this market shrunk and grew excessively, the relative importance of stock and mutual insurers showed only minor fluctuations. The importance of specialised marine reinsurance companies, however, fluctuated greatly. Also, cooperation between interwar marine insurers and the formation of insurance groups set new trends of concentration for the future. Finally, even though Swedish marine insurance during some years induced losses the Swedish marine insurers never experienced true losses on their total businesses.
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| 8. |
- Ångström, Jan, Professor, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Weak Party Escalation : An Underestimated Strategy for Small States
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Strategic Studies. - : Routledge. - 0140-2390 .- 1743-937X. ; 42:2, s. 282-300
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we develop the strategic rationale behind weak party escalation against stronger adversaries. There are, we suggest, four main strategies: to provoke a desired over-reaction from the stronger adversary; to compartmentalize conflict within a domain in which the weak party has advantages; to carve a niche with a stronger ally, and to forge a reputation of not yielding lightly. Spelling out these different logics contributes to the literature on small state strategies and escalation. It also suggests, contrary to much of the existing literature, that it can be rational for weak parties to escalate against great powers.
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