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| 7. |
- Ahlborg, Helene, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Powering institutions for development - Organizational strategies for decentralized electricity provision
- 2018
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Ingår i: Energy Research and Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296. ; 38, s. 77-86
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study addresses the question of how to achieve and sustain well-functioning local service delivery in institutionally difficult contexts, characterised by low levels of generalised trust, widespread corruption and poor institutions. We study a relatively successful case of decentralized electrification in Tanzania, and the process whereby an international NGO establishes a small-scale hydropower system with a local utility to own and operate it. Building on institutional theory, we investigate how to build trust in an organization, through a strategy of credible commitment; and how free-riding problems can be handled in a local development project. The qualitative study includes 119 semistructured interviews with project staff, villagers, and local and district government, observations and document analysis. The results indicate the importance of a positive ‘history of play’, sustained over time, and keeping distance from corrupt institutions, in order to build trust. Strict enforcement of rules was decisive for handling free riding behaviours, and impartiality in enforcement for perceptions of legitimacy and trustworthiness. Deviations undermined relations of trust. The results add nuance to more generic theoretical propositions and provide insights on un/intended consequences of institutional strategies. These are relevant for creating and sustaining local service organizations for electricity access and other public goods.
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| 8. |
- Ahlborg, Helene, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Provision of electricity to African households : The importance of democracy and institutional quality
- 2015
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777. ; 87, s. 125-135
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How can differences in per capita household electricity consumption across African countries be understood? Based on theories that highlight the importance of democracy and institutional quality for provision of public goods, the aim of the paper is to analyse the degree to which the level of per capita household electricity consumption in African countries can be attributed to the countries’ democratic status and their institutional quality. We rely on regression analysis employing a pooled data set for 44 African countries over the time period 1996–2009. The analysis shows that democracy and institutional quality both have significant positive effects on per capita household consumption of electricity. Our results have implications for how energy sector reforms are promoted in developing countries. At a more general level they illustrate that institution-building policy efforts are relevant also in areas where contemporary debates have tended to primarily centre on economic development, financial prerequisites and ownership issues.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Ahlén, Anton, et al.
(författare)
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IMMIGRATION CONTROL IN DISGUISE? Civic Integration Policies and Immigrant Admission
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nordic Journal of Migration Research. - : Helsinki University Press. - 1799-649X. ; 8:1, s. 3-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There has been a rapid diffusion of civic integration policies (CIPs) in Europe since the 21st century. The spread of CIPs has, however, been uneven across Europe, with some countries adopting civic integration strategies with tougher integration requirements, whereas others keeping more of a multicultural approach. The implementation of CIPs has mainly been motivated based on concerns about immigrant integration. As discussed in this article, however, an implied function of this policy framework is that immigrants who do not meet the conditions will face difficulties acquiring residence. This article develops and conducts a preliminary test of the argument that CIPs affect migration flows. The assumption is that CIPs provide states with tools to control and limit the inflow of immigration by a certain category of entry. The analysis lends support to the idea that there are connections between the extensions of CIPs and reductions in family immigration and labour immigration among European countries, which indicates that push for internal inclusion seems to come along with barriers of exclusion.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Committing to the Climate: A Global Study of Accountable Climate Targets
- 2019
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 11:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Paris Agreement has been described by many as a historical event, a turning point in the United Nations’ climate negotiations. Its success is often attributed to the intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs), in which countries have committed themselves to individually set targets in order to reduce emissions. However, it still remains to be agreed upon how to review and compare countries’ efforts, as outlined in the INDCs (and at later stages in the nationally determined contributions—NDCs). In this paper we suggest (and construct) a simple quantitative measure which is transparent, ensures valid comparison over time, and which can be determined for a large share of countries; a comparable indicator of country commitments in terms of so called accountable climate targets (ACTs). This indicator is then combined with a global data set of political–institutional, economic and geographic variables to understand more about which factors may affect country commitments. The results from multivariate probability unit (probit) regressions show that egalitarian principles, as well as GDP per capita, tend to be positively associated with climate commitments, while a negative association is found for CO2 emissions per capita
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| 13. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Constrained Politics: Labour Market Actors, Political Parties and Swedish Labour Immigration Policy
- 2019
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Ingår i: Government and Opposition. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0017-257X .- 1477-7053. ; 54:1, s. 121-144
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2017Sweden used to be one of the most restrictive countries in the Organisation of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) in terms of labour immigration policy. This was drastically changed in 2008 when a very liberal immigration law was passed. Why did one of the most restrictive labour immigration countries suddenly become one of the most liberal ones? The article argues that it is necessary to consider labour market institutions and their consequences for labour migration. These factors will influence the preferences, strategies and chances of success for various policy actors. A decline in union power and corporatism in Sweden had important consequences for its labour immigration. Following this decline, employers and centre-right parties became more active and adopted more liberal policy positions than previously. The article analyses policy developments since the 1960s and draws on official documents, position statements, party manifestos, media coverage and original elite interviews.
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| 14. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Cooking the books: Bureaucratic politicization and policy knowledge
- 2018
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Ingår i: Governance. - : Wiley. - 0952-1895 .- 1468-0491. ; 31:1, s. 7-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Accurate knowledge about societal conditions and public policies is an important public good in any polity, yet governments across the world differ dramatically in the extent to which they collect and publish such knowledge. This article develops and tests the argument that this variation to some extent can be traced to the degree of bureaucratic politicization in a polity. A politicized bureaucracy offers politicians greater opportunities to demand from bureaucrats-and raises incentives for bureaucrats to supply-public policy knowledge that is strategically biased or suppressed in a manner that benefits incumbents reputationally. Due to electoral competition, we suggest that the link between bureaucratic politicization and politicized policy knowledge will be stronger in democracies than in autocracies. A case analysis of Argentina's statistical agency lends credence to the underlying causal mechanism. Time-series cross-sectional analyses confirm the broader validity of the expectations and show that the relationship is present only in democracies.
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| 20. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Identifying frames: A comparison of research methods
- 2014
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Ingår i: Interest Groups and Advocacy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2047-7414 .- 2047-7422. ; 3:2, s. 188-201
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Framing plays an important role in public policy. Interest groups strategically highlight some aspects of a policy proposal while downplaying others in order to steer the policy debate in a favorable direction. Despite the importance of framing, we still know relatively little about the framing strategies of interest groups due to methodological difficulties that have prevented scholars from systematically studying interest group framing across a large number of interest groups and multiple policy debates. This article therefore provides an overview of three novel research methods that allow researchers to systematically measure interest group frames. More specifically, this article introduces a word-based quantitative text analysis technique, a manual, computer-assisted content analysis approach and face-to-face interviews designed to systematically identify interest group frames. The results generated by all three techniques are compared on the basis of a case study of interest group framing in an environmental policy debate in the European Union.
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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In Light of Democracy and Corruption: Institutional Determinants of Electricity Provision
- 2021
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Ingår i: The Energy Journal. - : International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). - 0195-6574 .- 1944-9089. ; 42:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Long-lasting democratic institutions have been found to matter for the universal provision of reliable electricity. In this article we revisit this finding, suggesting that the effect of democracy on electricity provision is moderated by the quality of institutions shaping the implementation of public policies. We test the hypothesis positing the interaction effect between democracy and corruption using cross-national data on the share of population living in unlit areas. The results show that democracy is associated with a higher electrification rate only in low-corrupt contexts. When corruption is widespread, democratic experience is not correlated with higher rates of electrification. These findings suggest that the effect of democratic institutions is conditional on the quality of the institutions that shape policy implementation.
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Institution building in challenging contexts – energy for development in Tanzania
- 2017
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Ingår i: QOG working paper series. - 1653-8919. ; 3
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Sustainable Development Goal 7 includes achieving universal electricity access, which will require the deployment of renewable energy sources for small-scale and decentralized electricity provision. However, rural electrification (RE) projects – as well as development projects more gen-erally – often fail to maintain service delivery over time. In this paper, we approach the overarching question of challenges to development projects in contexts characterized by poverty, low trust and corruption. Previous work clearly demonstrates that development projects in general, and not least decentralized electrification projects, tend to face significant obstacles, and even fail, in such con-texts. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the mechanisms through which a “difficult” institutional context challenges institution building within development projects. More importantly, knowledge is also lacking regarding viable strategies for institution building in these contexts. In this paper, we study the process whereby an international non-governmental organization (NGO) implements a rural electrification project and establishes a small-scale hydropower station and a local utility to own and operate it. Through analyzing a development project with a relatively suc-cessful institution building process, this paper makes a contribution to the literature on institution building in challenging contexts. We investigate first how trust in an organization can be built in a context characterized by low levels of generalized trust, high levels of corruption and poor institu-tions, to the extent that people are prepared to invest in these organizations for long-term gain. Second, we study how free-riding problems can be handled in a local development project in a way that is both effective and legitimate. The analysis is based on an extensive empirical material from a qualitative case study, including 119 semi-structured interviews with project staff, villagers, and local and district government. Our study points to the importance of (a) a positive history of play and efforts to build trust that are sustained over a substantial period of time, (b) keeping distance from existing political institutions, (c) strict enforcement of the rules of the institution, and (d) strict impartiality in enforcement.
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| 27. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977
(författare)
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Large-scale solidarity? Effects of welfare state institutions on the admission of forced migrants
- 2015
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Ingår i: European Journal of Political Research. - : Wiley. - 0304-4130. ; 54:2, s. 216-231
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The variation among countries when it comes to the admittance of forced migrants - refugees and asylum seekers - is substantial. This article explains part of this variation by developing and testing an institutional explanation to the admission of forced migrants; more precisely, it investigates the impact of domestic welfare state institutions on admission. Building on comparative welfare state research, it is hypothesised that comprehensive welfare state institutions will have a positive effect on the admission of forced migrants to a country. There are three features of comprehensive welfare state institutions that could steer policies towards forced migrants in a more open direction. First, these institutions have been shown to impact on the boundaries of social solidarity. Second, they enhance generalised trust. And third, they can impact on the citizens' view of what the state should and can do in terms of protecting individuals. The argument is tested using a broad comparative dataset of patterns of forced migration, covering 17 OECD countries between 1980 and 2003. This analysis shows that comprehensive welfare state institutions have a significant positive effect on the admission of forced migrants, under control for a number of factors often highlighted in migration research.
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| 30. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Making space: citizens, parties and interest groups in two ideological dimensions
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of European Public Policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1350-1763 .- 1466-4429. ; 31:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In liberal democracies, interest groups and political parties constitute the primary organizational carriers of citizens’ preferences into the decision-making of the executive and legislative institutions. While political science research has put extensive efforts into understanding both channels of representation, their combined effect for citizen representation has only recently come into focus. In particular, we lack knowledge of the ideological alignment of citizens, parties and interest groups on overarching economic Left-Right and socio-cultural dimensions. We address this gap via an original cross-national survey of interest groups, which includes the self-placement of groups on the Left-Right and Gal-Tan dimensions. The configuration of groups on these dimensions are compared with Chapel Hill Expert Survey data on parties, and information on the preferences of citizens from the European Election Studies. Our findings indicate that interest groups have the potential to supplement multidimensional gaps in representation between the political party system and citizen preferences.
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| 31. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977
(författare)
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National Institutions - International Migration. Labour Markets, Welfare States and Immigration Policy
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- All advanced capitalist countries admit entry to some immigrants and refuse entry to others. Despite the fact that all these countries accept some, but not all, potential immigrants, the variation when it comes to the admission of foreigners – or immigration policy – is still considerable. Policies and practices range from active invitation or legal admission to mere tolerance or outright rejection of the people that wish to enter these countries. This study sheds light on some aspects of this variation in policies and practices by developing and testing an institutional explanation for immigration admission. A central point of departure for the study is that in order to understand variation in immigration patterns, we need to pay attention to, and develop different explanations for, different types of immigration. Building on a comprehensive literature of labour markets and immigration, the study first suggests that institutional arrangements in the labour market matter for the relative importance of labour immigration to a country. More specifically, using data over yearly admissions of labour immigrants in a quantitative analysis, the study shows that labour immigration tend to be more important in economies with liberal labour market institutions than in more regulated labour markets. Using public opinion data, the study further shows that perceptions of immigrants tend to differ between labour market contexts. Drawing on theories from the comparative welfare state literature the study then suggests that generous and universal welfare state institutions, through their effects on norms and values, will have a positive impact on the intake of forced immigrants – that is, refugees and asylum seekers. This hypothesis is supported by a quantitative analysis using data over yearly admissions of forced immigrants. Analyses of public opinion data, official documents and secondary sources further lend support to the suggested causal mechanism. The overall conclusion is that these national institutions do matter for immigration policies, although their impact has to some extent weakened over time.
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| 34. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Political determinants of electricity provision in small island developing states
- 2016
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777. ; 98, s. 725-734
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper approaches provision of affordable and reliable electricity in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as a case of public good provision. It aims to contribute to our understanding of how regime type and the quality of implementing institutions within political systems affect the prerequisites for successful electrification in SIDS. More specifically, we analyse the independent and interdependent effects of level of democracy and control of corruption on per capita household electricity consumption in SIDS, using data from 34 SIDS over the period 1996-2009. The results show that although the independent effects of level of democracy and control of corruption are sensitive to model specification, these two factors do have an interdependent impact on per capita household electricity consumption: democratization has positive effects on provision of electricity to the general population only when there is a certain level of corruption control in place. The results imply a) that it is important for policy actors to acknowledge the interaction between regime type and the quality of implementing institutions, and b) when planning electrification projects in SIDS, it is necessary to have information about the social and political context in order to design the most effective projects. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 35. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Political Equality and Substantive Representation by Interest Groups
- 2022
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Ingår i: British Journal of Political Science. - 0007-1234 .- 1469-2112. ; 52, s. 1447-1454
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The interest group literature has long struggled with how to empirically approach the normative idea of a non-biased group system. While most previous attempts have focused on the descriptive representation of different types of groups, this article argues that substantive representation of citizens' attitudes is closer to the democratic principle of equal effective participation. It develops a methodological approach that captures substantive representation with respect to agenda priorities and policies by surveying interest groups on how much time they spend on lobbying in different policy areas, and in which direction they lobby on salient policy issues. The responses are compared with opinion data to estimate the level of political (in)equality. The findings from the case of Sweden - where relatively high levels of equality would be expected, but striking levels of inequality based on socio-economic status are instead found - highlight the perseverance of what Schattschneider once called the upper-class bias of the pressure system.
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| 36. |
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| 37. |
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| 38. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Powering institutions – credibility, enforcement and legitimacy
- 2016
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Ingår i: Conference paper. Quality of Government (QoG) Conference, 26-29 January 2016, Nice, France.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Through analyzing a development project with a relatively successful institution building process, and contrasting it to a less successful project, this paper seeks to make a contribution to the literature on institution building in challenging contexts. It investigates a) how trust in an organization can be built in a context characterized by low levels of generalized trust, high levels of corruption and poor institutions (to the extent that people are prepared to invest in these organizations for long-term gain), and b) can free-riding problems can be handled in a local development project in a way that is both effective and legitimate. The analysis is based on an extensive empirical material, including 119 semi-structured interviews with project staff, villagers, and local and district government. The results point to the importance of a) a positive history of play, sustained over a substantial period of time, b) keeping distance from existing corrupt institutions, c) strict enforcement of the rules of the institution, and d) strict impartiality in enforcement.
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| 39. |
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| 41. |
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| 42. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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The Double Democratic Bind: Challenges to Enacting Mandates and Combating Misinformation
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of health politics, policy and law. - 1527-1927. ; 49:1, s. 189-215
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- CONTEXT: Wealthy countries vary considerably in terms of how well they have been able to inoculate their populations against COVID-19. In particular, democracies have been constrained in their abilities to implement vaccine mandates, given enshrined protections of civil liberties and individual freedom in such regimes. While scholars have begun addressing the democratic constraint on vaccine mandates, less attention has been paid to the additional challenges democracies face in constraining the spread of vaccine misinformation-particularly misinformation that spreads online. METHODS: This study combines large-N cross-country analysis with a case study of Germany to illustrate the "double bind" that democracies face when it comes to containing both the spread of disease and the spread of misinformation through social media. FINDINGS: The cross-national analysis confirms that democracies have been less likely to enact vaccine mandates, and they have also been relatively more hesitant to restrict what people can see and share online. The case study of Germany highlights the normative and the procedural constraints underlying such decisions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that resources are often not the binding constraint on effective disease control, raising questions regarding the ability of high-income democracies to respond effectively to future public health emergencies.
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| 43. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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The Quality of Government Determinants of Regime Support
- 2015
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Ingår i: University of Gothenburg and Stellenbosch University World Values Survey workshop, August 12-13 2015, Gothenburg. - : Whily.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper argues that in addition to “what democracies do,” “how democracies do it” produces an independent source of support for democracy. We argue that a high procedural quality of bureaucracy may promote support for democracy by diminishing the likelihood of the occurrence of cognitive dissonance between democracy as an ideal and the experienced. Furthermore, we expect the beneficial impact of a higher quality of government (QoG) to be more visible in younger democracies. We subject this claim to a multilevel empirical analysis with large n and N and across a considerable time span. The analysis reveals that higher QoG is linked with higher levels of diffuse support, and that this effect is stronger in younger democracies. The data are less supportive with respect to the positive impact of QoG on specific support, calling for further research into the matter.
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| 44. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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The Quality of Government Determinants of Support for Democracy
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Public Affairs. - : Wiley. - 1472-3891. ; 17:1-2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper argues that in addition to “what democracies do,” “how democracies do it” produces an independent source of support for democracy. We argue that a high procedural quality of bureaucracy may promote support for democracy by diminishing the likelihood of the occurrence of cognitive dissonance between democracy as an ideal and the experienced. Furthermore, we expect the beneficial impact of a higher quality of government (QoG) to be more visible in younger democracies. We subject this claim to a multilevel empirical analysis with large n and N and across a considerable time span. The analysis reveals that higher QoG is linked with higher levels of diffuse support, and that this effect is stronger in younger democracies. The data are less supportive with respect to the positive impact of QoG on specific support, calling for further research into the matter.
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| 45. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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'Try to see it my way!' Frame congruence between lobbyists and European Commission officials
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of European Public Policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1350-1763 .- 1466-4429. ; 22:4, s. 499-515
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study how frame congruence - the degree to which key policy-makers' frames correspond to the frames of lobbyists - is distributed between different types of interest groups. We argue that two contextual factors are particularly important for whether the frames of business interests dominate those of civil society interests in the minds of European Commission officials. First, the broader the scope of the conflict, i.e., the more affected interests active in the process, the more difficult it will be to promote narrow self-regarding frames, a fact that benefits civil society interests. Second, as business dominates the media coverage of European Union legislative proposals, the more publicity the proposals receive the higher the frame congruence of business lobbyists and Commission officials. Our empirical analysis is based on 144 face-to-face interviews with Commission officials and lobbyists in relation to 55 legislative proposals that were put forward by the Commission during 2008-10.
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| 46. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Unions and the rights of migrants in the long run
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 30:5, s. 557-570
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use historical data on union density and new historical data on policies toward migrants to study the long-run relationship between the strength of trade unions and the social and economic rights of migrants in the Global North. In countries with strong trade unions, there was, for a long time, a widening distance between the rights of migrants and the rights of citizens, probably because the rights of citizens expanded sooner and more quickly than the rights of migrants. Over time, however, the differences between countries with strong and weak unions have diminished, and in more recent years, the 'rights gap' between citizens and migrants has in fact been smaller in countries with strong unions than in countries with weak unions.
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| 47. |
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| 48. |
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| 49. |
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| 50. |
- Schierenbeck, Isabell, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Sjuk av arbete? Om arbetsoförmåga och sjukdom
- 2008
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Ingår i: Vahlne Westerhäll, Lotta (red.) Arbets(o)förmåga – ur ett mångdisciplinärt perspektiv. Stockholm: Sandtérus Förlag.. - 9789173590105
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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