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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Alm, Maria
(författare)
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Nationell kraft och lokal motkraft : En diskursanalys av konflikten kring SwePol Link
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Facility siting conflicts are increasing in our society. This is a study of a HVDC-link between Blekinge, Sweden and Slupsk, Poland called The SwePol Link. This link has transferred electricity between the two electricity systems since the year 2000 and the decision making process can be described as a struggle between conflicting interests. The aim of this study is to investigate where in the decision making process conflicting interests become visible, and how the actors involved have acted and argued in order to try to influence the process to benefit their respective causes. This aim is further developed through a discourse analysis of the variety of arguments, ideas and conceptions that in different situations of the process construct patterns and statements. The purpose of the discourse analysis is to identify and categorize patterns and statements that are expressed in three chosen practices; the concession practice, the court practice and the practice concerning the debate articles and editorials published in Blekinge Läns Tidning during the period 1996-2000. This practice is referred to as the mass media practice in the study. It is clear that the conflict deepens and that the system-builders and critical actors (including Blekinge Läns Tidning) started to distrust each other and their respective ways of acting during the process. Both supporters and critics used scientific and juridical enrolments in order to try to strengthen their positions in the conflict. Both scientifically and juridically formulated arguments were central patterns in the discourse. This was also the case with technically formulated arguments. These patterns of arguments were mainly expressed through academics, or experts, for or against the system and might thereby be looked upon as rather exclusive ways of arguing in the practices. One exception from this was, for example, when fishers argued against different scientific results on the basis of their experiences. This was, however, not a very successful way of criticizing scientific results. The study shows that there, for example, were conflicts around the meaning of a sustainable energy system, where a central system-builder pattern meets a peripheral systemcritical pattern and both sides held themselves as arguing for a sustainable energy system. Another result of the study is that the discourse varied depending on which practice it was expressed in. It became clear that holistic perspectives regarding a sustainable energy system or the landscape as such became peripheral in all of the “formal” practices, where the decisions regarding the system took place. These types of holistic patterns were mainly articulated in other practices like the mass media.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Daniel, 1989-
(författare)
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Artificial Earth : On the Genealogy of Planetary Technicity
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As technology transforms the conditions by which we come understand and interact with the world around us, it is relevant to ask questions about the historicalontological aspects of these patterns of change. The widespread adoption of the term “Anthropocene” during the last twenty years indicates the wide acceptance of the view that human activities have become such a powerful driving force for global environmental change that our destructive legacy will be recorded in geological history. Man, it is argued, has come to alter his terrestrial environment on such a global scale that the ontological difference between natural and technological patterns of change has lost its salience. Addressing our contemporary environmental problems, then, requires knowledge of how physical processes in the natural world operate. But it also necessitates a critical self-consciousness that pertains to the understanding of “the natural” vis-à-vis “the artificial” that underlies this kind of knowledge production. The latter forms the basis of this thesis, which treats the disclosure of technology as a “global” or “planetary” phenomenon – what, herein, is called “planetary technicity” – in earth system science and within the prevailing Anthropocene discourse, and argues that this disclosure gives rise to a research problem that necessitates the present study: insofar as natural and technological patterns of change are made ontologically equivalent, we are faced with a situation wherein technology is increasingly portrayed as beyond human control – just like the products of nature, artifice is depicted as self-organizing. Proceeding from an intellectual-historical point of departure, and within the framework of modern earth science, the methodological ambition of the thesis is to investigate the so-called “genealogical” provenance behind this particular disclosure of technology, with the intention of exposing its historical conditions. The thesis seeks to accomplish this by answering three main questions: how did the question of the nature of technology intersect with epistemological and methodological concerns in earth science; how were such concerns treated or resolved; and last but not least, what is the intellectualhistorical provenance of planetary technicity? In view of the genealogical examination, the thesis concludes that planetary technicity is a product of a certain intellectual-historical tradition in modern earth science that opposed itself toward mechanistic philosophy by taking up a holistic approach in order to study the earth, which meant that technology ontologically came to be attributed organic rather than mechanical features. In addition, the thesis highlights the historical coincidence – as opposed to the necessity – of this particular understanding of technology.
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| 7. |
- Anshelm, Jonas, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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Miljöforskningens döda vinkel
- 1998
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Ingår i: Hållbart samhälle - en antologi om mål, möjligheter, medel och makt. - Stockholm : Forskningsrådsnämnden (FRN). ; , s. 251-269
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 8. |
- Boman, Anna
(författare)
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Ekonomisk tillväxtmotor : Mälardalsrådets konstruktion av regional utveckling
- 2008
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As current capital accumulates in more flexible ways and is more often than before distinguished from national states, the options and possibilities for governments to control these financial flows change. Establishing regions and regional cooperation are seen as ways for governments to ensure continued economic growth. At these regional levels significant discussions on the development of society in general, and on the idea of sustainable development in particular, take place. However, there are also academic concepts arguing that current economic growth is in fact unsustainable. These concepts suggest an expansion of the current economic order.In this licentiate thesis the reader will meet Mälardalsrådet, the Council of the Mälar Region, a non-profit association for regional cooperation in the region of Mälardalen. In this study the activity of the Council of the Mälar Region will be understood as communication including ideas, statements, views and arguments.Based on a critical social science point of view this study has been inspired by discourse analysis, where language is seen as a major force. The purpose of this study is to highlight how the Council of the Mälar Region communicate development ideas in areas of economy, environment and sustainable development. This is done by identifying and analysing the Council’s communication on regional development.Behind the vision of growth communicated by the Council of the Mälar Region there is a deeper dimension of uncertainty for the changed social and economical conditions, but maybe the insecurity ends right there. While we should not forget that sustainability has been included in the discussion of growth, the ecological dimension of sustainability has become increasingly anonymous and a part of the national and international dominating consensus of growth and the environment.
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| 10. |
- Fälton, Emelie, 1992-
(författare)
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Shapeshifting Nature : Ambivalent Ways of Seeing the Non-Human World within Swedish National Park Tourism and its Visual Culture
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- National parks are often assigned a self-identical role as protectors of valuable pieces of the non-human world, generally depicted as nature. Besides, many parks are also popular tourism destinations that attract millions of tourists each year. National park tourism and its visual culture impact how people relate to and see the non-human world. Up until now, research paying interest in such ways of seeing has mainly focused on national parks in North America, implying that their empirical scope is geographically narrow and needs to be broadened. In this dissertation, I contribute to such broadening by focusing on the Swedish national park tourism, which is facing intensifying times transforming it from a shadow interest into the center of attention. By unraveling, making visible, and problematizing ways of seeing the non-human world enabled by the Swedish national park tourism and its visual culture, I extend the insights in human ways of seeing the world we call nature. I direct the focus to how the non-human world has been represented, what characteristics it has been assigned, and what ontological and epistemological stances that can be identified therein. I also reflect upon what productive effects and implications all of this can have for how humans see and relate to the non-human world. Through a discourse analysis, I have identified four ways of seeing that together construct the non-human world as a sublime wilderness of nationalistic character that functions as an edutainment arena for environmentally conscious tourists. Within and among those ways of seeing, there exist not only coherences but also contradictions. Those are grounded in a tension between the two opposing interests of saving and using nature, which is said to be united by the third interest of knowing it. Through this, the ways of seeing become ambivalent, as they frame the non-human world as a shapeshifting nature that assumes different and even contradictory forms.
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| 11. |
- Fälton, Emelie, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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The Neverlands of Nature : Exploring Representations of the Non-Human in Visitor Information Publication Material on Swedish National Parks
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Northern Studies. - Umeå : Umeå University. - 1654-5915 .- 2004-4658. ; 14:1, s. 7-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we distinguish, make visible, and problematize how thenon-human world (often depicted as nature) in Swedish national parks comes into beingthrough representations in visitor information publications, and what the productiveeffects of those representations are. Through a discursive analysis, we identify seven discursiveformations that concern portrayals of the non-human world. On the one hand,it is represented as extraordinary and sublime pieces of wild and pristine nature—and onthe other, as ordinary and accessible. Despite this divergence, these kinds of spaces functionas national heritage with an elitist status, which creates hierarchizations betweennational parks and other spaces, but also between the national parks themselves. Northand south are assigned different attraction values and portrayed as desirable in differentcontexts. The north is wild, pristine, and sublime, while the south is safe, available, andalways open to tourists. Furthermore, the material generates portrayals of national parksas places for learning, where the non-human world is displayed, explored, experienced,and taught. The uniting force of these formations is the focus of national parks as placesof otherness, which turns them into heterotopian neverlands far away from the mainlandof modernity.
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| 12. |
- Fälton, Emelie, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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Welcome to your Finest Nature: : Touristic Discourse on Nature in information Materials about Swedish National Parks
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this article, we problematize the concept of nature by focusing on how subjects related to nature are constituted through the touristic discourse in the context of national park tourism in Sweden. We are interested in how nature is produced and reproduced, but also what implications those representations can carry with them. Thereby, we seek to distinguish and make visible how nature in Swedish national parks is portrayed, represented, and assigned values in a touristic context. The material consists of pictures and texts from websites and books with a touristic orientation towards national parks. One part is produced by three tourism actors who market or sell travels to the Swedish national parks, while the other part is produced by actors who state themselves as experts in conservation questions. These actors produce and communicate information about the national parks and the nature within them, but they are also carriers of discourses, which makes them potential influencers on the touristic discourse on nature in Swedish national parks. By visual discourse analysis, aspects of power, subjectification, objectification, normalization, naturalization, marginalization as well as internalization and externalization, are put into focus. The analysis was done stepwise to discern analytical themes, guided by the material. The result shows that the touristic discourse on nature contains utopian imaginaries and portrayals of nature in national parks, where nature is understood to be ideal and of a sublime character, where humans are temporary guests. Simultaneously, nature is portrayed as a pedagogical exhibition for tourists to learn from.
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| 13. |
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Green utopianism : perspectives, politics and micro-practices
- 2014
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Utopian thought and experimental approaches to societal organization have been rare in the last decades of planning and politics. Instead, there is a widespread belief in ecological modernization, that sustainable societies can be created within the frame of the current global capitalist world order by taking small steps such as eco-labeling, urban densification, and recycling. However, in the context of the current crisis in which resource depletion, climate change, uneven development, and economic instability are seen as interlinked, this belief is increasingly being questioned and alternative developmental paths sought. This collection demonstrates how utopian thought can be used in a contemporary context, as critique and in exploring desired futures. The book includes theoretical perspectives on changing global socio-environmental relationships and political struggles for alternative development paths, and analyzes micro-level practices in co-housing, alternative energy provision, use of green space, transportation, co-production of urban space, peer-to-peer production and consumption, and alternative economies. It contributes research perspectives on contemporary green utopian practices and strategies, combining theoretical and empirical analyses to spark discussions of possible futures.
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| 14. |
- Grönwall, Jenny T., 1973-
(författare)
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Access to water : Rights, obligations and the Bangalore situation
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The city of Bangalore in southern India is undergoing rapid urbanisation and administrative transition. Its growth puts pressure on the available water sources – being mainly the disputed inter-State River Cauvery and the hard-rock aquifers – with ensuing problems of access. These aspects affect how rights to and over water are fulfilled and perceived. Competition for drinking water is intensifying worldwide and over a billion people are estimated to lack safe access to it. Urbanisation and other demographic trends, along with globalisation and climate change, are adding to the changing patterns of water scarcity. The role of rights in attaining and improving access to water is undoubtedly great and often referred to in the general water management debate. The notion is analysed here as having three interlinked dimensions: the right to water as a human right; water in terms of property rights; and water rights. Law treats these rights, and thereby water, differently. For instance, groundwater has traditionally been thought of as invisible and unpredictable. Partly for this reason, it is still left largely unregulated in many parts of the world. In India, according to the proverb, ‘the landlord is a water lord’. This has effects on the claim for water as a human right. The dissertation shows that we cannot talk in terms of water and rights until we are aware of how complex rights apply simultaneously, and how they correspond to obligations.
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| 15. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Att gestalta hållbar utveckling : om det utopiska tänkandets potential
- 2005. - 1
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Ingår i: Frigörare? Moderna svenska samhällsdrömmar. - Stockholm : Carlssons. - 9172037172 ; , s. 299-314
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Författarna skriver om svenska samhällsdrömmar efter andra världskriget. Vilka visioner finns om det goda samhället och vad står de för? Vilka personer engagerar sig i nuet för framtidens skull? Frigörare är personer, saker och ting som gjort anspråk på att befria oss och hjälpa oss att skapa ett bättre samhälle.
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| 16. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Bilder av den svenska naturen : exemplet Göta kanal
- 2001
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Genom åren har en ansenlig mängd bilder av den natur och kultur som förbinds med Göta kanal producerats. Detta material är till stor del tämligen stereotypt, genom att samma slags motiv återkommer ofta och under lång tid. Men en viss historisk utveckling av hur naturen skildras kan man konstatera redan vid en flyktig blick, och därmed aktualiseras frågan: ser vi på naturen på samma sätt idag som för hundra år sedan? Denna fråga väcker i sin tur en rad frågetecken kring kategorin ”vi”: finns det en ”svensk” natur som på något sätt är förbunden med ”svenskarna”, och vad innebär i så fall denna svenskhet?
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Critical notes on sustainability and democracy
- 2002
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Ingår i: Sustainability, local democracy and the future : the Swedish model. - Dordrecht/Boston/London : Kluwer Academic Publishers. - 1402009054 - 9781402009051 ; , s. 17-48
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- "This book deals with the challenges posed by the transformation of society towards much-needed sustainability. Especially, it deals with the local features of this change, but seen in a global context. The two cases - the municipalities of Linkoping and Atvidaberg - are Swedish, but the problems of how to relate locally to a globalized world are common in the world of today. They have been deliberately chosen to expose alternative types of choices for the local communities involved. Large Linkoping is, historically, a nodal city of importance in the national grid of regional centres, one that relates to the nation state and represents officialdom. Small Atvidaberg developed in the context of its forest region setting and metallurgy, and today operates directly to wider markets, while still emphasising its very local identity. As these municipalities are bordering each other, it provides a similar regional context and differences between them may not be entirely confused by a debate on drastically different geographical settings."--BOOK JACKET.
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Klimatförändringens orsaker : vad säger samhällsvetenskapen?
- 2009. - 1
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Ingår i: Osäkrat klimat - laddad utmaning. - Stockholm : Formas. - 9789154060368 ; , s. 439-452
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Att jorden blir varmare beror mycket sannolikt på människans utsläpp av växthusgaser. Det säger FN:s klimatpanel IPCC - och kopplar uppvärmningen till stigande havsnivå, krympande isar och risken för snabbare förändringar som inte går att förutse. Men när blir människans klimatpåverkan farlig och vad är det som står på spel? Är EUS:s energi- och klimatpolitik en tandlös tiger? Är lagring av koldioxid en lösning eller dimridå? Är hotet mot klimatet en chans för företagen? Hur ser olika forskare på saken? Läs boken så får du veta?
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| 23. |
- Hedrén, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Kunskap utan kunskapens användning : En studie av fysikläromedel i grundskolans senare år
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Forskning om läromedel i naturvetenskap och fysik pekar på en problematik, som handlar om en ensidig fokusering på historiskt kända fakta utan kopplingar till sammanhang, utveckling eller framtidsfrågor, som är kopplade till innehållet. Många elever upplever också att undervisningen har en sådan karaktär och har därför svårt att se meningen med varför de ska lära sig dessa fakta. Ett antal olika perspektiv har därför utvecklats för att hantera denna problematik. Dessa handlar exempelvis om kopplingar mellan naturvetenskap, teknik och samhälle eller om vetenskapshistoriska och vetenskapsteoretiska upplägg. Det handlar om relationer till platser och praktiker där innehållet har relevans eller andra sätt, som människor möter innehållet på utanför skolan. Det handlar om undersökande och utforskande arbetssätt eller om hur bilder och text är utformade så att ett läromedel fungerar för dem det riktar sig till. Denna studie ingår i Skolinspektionens kvalitetsgranskning av fysikundervisningen. Tre vanligt förekommande fysikläromedel har analyserats i relation till skolans uppdrag. Analysen består av en innehållsanalys och en bildanalys. Resultaten visar att många av de perspektiv, som diskuteras i forskningen som väsentliga för elevers lärande finns framskrivna i skolans uppdrag, men är inte närvarande i läromedlen. I likhet med vad internationell forskning visar porträtteras fysikämnet i de tre läromedlen, som om det främst handlar om att lära sig en uppsättning historiskt kända fakta och samband, som kan demonstreras i en uppsättning experiment. Kopplingar till samhällsutveckling, kunskapens användning med etiska dilemman, arbetssätt, hållbarhetsperspektiv, miljöfrågor, etnicitetsfrågor, karriärmöjligheter och framtidsfrågor är svagt representerade och ibland helt obefintliga. Dessutom visar bildanalysen att kvinnor, som medverkande aktörer i vetenskapligt arbete är underrepresenterade. Bilderna handlar mest om kroppsarbete, sport och tekniska arbetsuppgifter kopplade till traditionellt manliga ideal. Resultaten indikerar starkt att fysikämnets karaktär i dessa svenska läromedel inte är i linje med aktuella styrdokument, men de är väl i linje med den problematik, som beskrivs i den internationella forskningen. Elevers möjlighet att skapa mening och relatera till vad innehållet betyder för samhällsbyggande, för personliga erfarenheter eller för deltagande i en gemensam kultur är beskurna på grund av denna situation. Samtidigt finns det kunskapsområden inom den internationella forskningen i naturvetenskaplig didaktik som hanterar dessa frågor. Det finns därför möjlighet att förstärka en vetenskapligt grundad nationell kompetens och hantera utmaningarna.
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| 24. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Miljöforskningens organisering och finansieringsvillkor : Några miljöforskares perspektiv
- 2003
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Ingår i: Vägar till kunskap: Några aspekter på humanvetenskaplig och annan miljöforskning. - Stockholm, Stehag : Symposion. - 9171395946 - 9789171395948 ; , s. 263-292
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- En antologi som behandlar frågor som: Vad är natur? Vad är miljö? Vad är miljöproblem? Vad är tvärvetenskap? Vad är nyttig miljöforskning?
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| 25. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Miljöfrågorna i skymundan
- 2002
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Ingår i: Praktik och teori. - 1104-6570. ; :2, s. 50-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 26. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Miljöpolitikens natur
- 1994
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- During the 1960s we get a new way of speaking of and writing about nature, an environmental discourse, whose special characteristics have not ufltil now been the object of systematic analyses. In this study the discourse is regarded, with structuralistic inspiration, as a generative force. The aim is to give an overall description of the environmental discourse and in particular to establish features in the discourse which are of great importance for the order which is valid for actions in the area. With this aim in mind, interest is especially directed towards the statements which expressively concern knowledge, values, the natural and the normal. The focus is on statements on nature and man's relationship to nature. Swedish environmental politics are the centre of interest in the study and thus are regarded as an expression of the environmental discourse. Also an investigation into citizens' conceptions has been carried out, with the help of a questionnaire. In the discourse nature is described, with some exceptions, as a machine being in itself without value. The values which it is linked with are spoken of as something which is ascribed to nature. Objects in nature can, just as parts in a machine, be transformed, replaced and many times price-tagged. The justification of existence coincides with usefulness and with the functions that nature offers. Each object, regardless of how it· is delimited and systemized, has its own value, or lack of value, determined by the importance it has for the maintenance of these functions. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that the ancient natura/law has returned and now exists side by side with the scientific practices which, once upon a time, were the cause of both it and its philosophical presumptions being banned. A fiercecontradiction exists between, on the one hand, the half hidden but still genuine natural law aspect of the discourse and, on the other hand, the strong dissociation from ethical naturalistic arguments of a natural law kind which characterize both contempory scientific and philosophical practices, as well asliberal political discourse. Thilt the natural law foundations are not formulated, in combination with the de-ideologizing and scientific manner in which the discourse presents its subject, means partlythat it remains unclear what constitutes the uttermost values and partly what constitutes questions dependent on interests and values, in spite oft he fact that such a field of questions obviously exists.
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| 27. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Naturen som hot mot det moderna : några ideologikritiska reflektioner
- 2002
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Ingår i: Naturen som brytpunkt : om miljöfrågans mystifieringar, konflikter och motsägelser. - Stockholm, Stehag : Symposion. - 9171395938 - 9789171395931 ; , s. 298-333
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Här analyserar forskare från olika ämnen en rad frågor som på olika sätt har att göra med naturen som angelägenhet för det moderna projektet
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| 28. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Naturen som spegel
- 2006
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Ingår i: Motiv. - 1652-3636. ; :7, s. 42-43
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 29. |
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| 30. |
- Hedrén, Johan
(författare)
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Shaping sustainability : Is there an unreleased potential in utopian thought?
- 2009
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Ingår i: FUTURES. - : Elsevier BV. - 0016-3287. ; 41:4, s. 220-225
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article develops from the argument that sustainable development primarily will be restricted to rhetorical discourse if the utopian dimension of politics and planning is neglected. I will firstly discuss what is typical for utopian thought in general as well as its potential role in politics and planning. Secondly, I will briefly explore of the contemporary politics of sustainable development with the focus on its utopian dimensions, and thirdly, I will also comment on the different kinds and forms of utopian thought that should be relevant for sutainability projects on different levels. My conclusions are that the utopian language is flourishing in many of the discourses on sustainable development, especially in comparison to other fields of politics, but that the role of utopian thought in this area needs to be reflected on and more thoroughly recognized in the practical endeavors taken in this area.
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| 31. |
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| 32. |
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| 33. |
- Hedrén, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Utopian thought and the politics of sustainable development
- 2009
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Ingår i: FUTURES. - : Elsevier BV. - 0016-3287. ; 41:4, s. 210-219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article argues that utopian thought is a necessary condition for the politics of sustainable development. Since utopian thought has so far been constrained by some typically Western features from the era of modernity, this requires a shift that transcends the following three fundamental aspects: the notions of fixed truth, fixed territoriality and fixed final goals for politics. The article argues that the concept of global sustainable development can entail three new elements of utopian thought: the disintegration of fixed territoriality, a never-ending story, and prismatic blueprints. Using these elements, utopian thought can provide transformative power, so that politics and policy making call meet contemporary global challenges to development and the environment.
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| 34. |
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| 35. |
- Hedrén, Johan, 1958-
(författare)
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Vetenskap - en källa till säkerhet eller osäkerhet?
- 2006
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Ingår i: Giftfri miljö - utopi eller verklig chans?. - Stockholm : Formas. - 9154059763 - 9789154059768 ; , s. 267-280
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Kadmium i mat och kvicksilver i fisk. Nya metaller i tänder och bilar. Klorerat, bromerat, fluorerat. Nanopartiklar invaderar kroppen. Akrylamid bildas när vi tillagar maten. Läkemedelsrester dyker upp i dricksvatten. Mannens spermier skadas. Hur mycket ska vi stå ut med av gamla problem och nya hot? Varför slår vi ofta dövörat till när larmet går? Kan vi få en giftfri miljö som riksdagens miljömål talar om? Eller är det bara en önskedröm? Varför reagerar vi så sent och bygger fast oss så lätt med olika kemikalier? Läs boken så får du veta! 29 forskare ger sin syn på frågan.
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| 36. |
- Hedrén, Johan
(författare)
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Vetenskap för kontroll eller för välgrundad förståelse
- 2012
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Ingår i: Power landscapes. - : Labyrinth Press. - 9789187440861 ; , s. 27-32
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Hur ska vi i grunden förstå miljöproblemen: som vetenskapliga utmaningar som kan hanteras genom forskning, ny teknik och administration, eller som politiska frågor med starka kopplingar till intressekonflikter och olika värderingar? Många menar att det är det senare som bör gälla, och att det handlar om vem som drabbas, vem som ska anpassa sig och vem som ska betala, men också om vilken slags miljö som man ska värna om och utveckla.Det politiska systemet har visat sig vara dåligt på att lyfta fram miljöfrågornas tydligt politiska sida, och istället oftast hanterat dem som frågor om vetenskap och teknik. Det är inte svårt att finna förklaringar till varför det har blivit så. Samma motsättning råder också inom forskningen, mellan å ena sidan teoretiska perspektiv som synliggör och analyserar konflikt- och rättviseaspekter, och å andra sidan teorier som istället utgår ifrån att vetenskapen kan avgöra vilket tillstånd som är det ideala och vilka mål som måste uppnås.Ett bra exempel på det senare förhållningssättet är den så kallade resiliensteorin. Denna teori har ursprungligen utvecklats inom naturvetenskapen, men i och med att dess centrala begrepp och utgångspunkter så småningom kommit att användas för analys också av samhället har en mängd problem uppstått. Efter en beskrivning av teorins grundläggande föreställningar och formulerar jag några kritiska invändningar till teorins förmåga att hantera samhälleliga frågeställningar.
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| 37. |
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| 38. |
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| 39. |
- Håkansson, Maria, 1966-
(författare)
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Kompetens för hållbar utveckling : Professionella roller i kommunal planering.
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The number of political goals set, and decisions taken, in respect of environmental matters at both the international and the Swedish national, regional and municipal levels is constantly increasing. The overall goal in the Swedish context is to become a sustainable society. The municipalities are expected to hold a key role in this transition, specifically through their spatial planning and their responsibilities for environmental and health issues. The aim of this thesis is to increase our empirical understanding of the day-to-day planning practice and environmental work. One important assumption here is that changing conditions, for example in relation to changes in legislation or bureaucratic re-organisations, do not always have an impact on every-day professional practice. In focus are therefore the day-to-day work and the professional perspectives as the professionals themselves articulate them. Interaction between occupational groups, the role of occupational culture and perspective and the articulation of knowledge is highlighted. The methods used for empirical data gathering are qualitative interviews and focus group sessions. The theories applied concern mainly professions, organisational culture and planning theory. It is apparent in the studies that the professional groups often have simplified, stereotypical images of one another, even though each group without exception has respect for the other professional groups. However, there are difficulties in the translation between officials of knowledge and evaluation of facts of the different groups. There is often low understanding of the fact that other groups act based on their professional knowledge and experience. The thesis show that national regulations and legislation alone cannot guarantee that environmental management will be prioritised at the local level – a gap between national policy and local practice here is clearly demonstrated. It should however be noted that the level of environmental competence in the local public administration is adequate and increasing.
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| 40. |
- Isaksson, Karolina, 1973-
(författare)
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Framtidens trafiksystem? : Maktutövningen i konflikterna om rummet och miljön i Dennispaketets vägfrågor
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The traffic- and environmental situation in Stockholm has for several decades been a constant source of controversy and debate. During the 1990's, the main focus of these discussions was directed at the Dennis-package (Dennispaketet). The Dennis-package was the result of political negotiations between the Social Democrats, The Liberal Party and theModerate Party in the Municipality and the County Council of Stockholm. The aim of the project was to improve the environmental situation in the region, to raise the accessibility, and to improve the conditions for development of the region. To fulfil these aims, the negotiating parties agreed on a number of infrastructure investments, for example the construction of a Ring Road around the city, an Outer By-pass Route in the outskirts of the densely built parts of the region, the introduction of road tolls to fmance these large new roads, and, furthermore, large investments in the system of public transportation.The Dennis-package gave rise to deep controversies that characterised the public debate and the politics in Stockholm for several years. This study is a documentation of the fascinating course of events in the project from April 1990 to February 1997, when the Swedish Government finally decided to stop the project. The focus of this study is directed on the multitude of spatial and environmental conflicts that evolved around the roads in the Dermis-package. The aim is to reach a deeper understanding of the complexity, the difficulties and the power aspects that can be stated as general for large spatially and environmentally restructuring projects of our time. The study shows that both discursive and spatial aspects of power exercise were important for the course of events in the Dermis package. Furthermore, clear tendencies are identified concerning how different environmental values and different places and areas in the Stockholm region are given higher priority than others, both in the design and the public debate as well as in the partialimplementation of the package. The study gives clear evidence that issues of environmental and spatial restructuring are never neutral, but issues of deeply political and social relevance.
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| 41. |
- Johansson, Madelaine, 1962-
(författare)
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Barriärer och broar : Kommunikativa villkor i det svenska miljömålsarbetet
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sveriges riksdag har antagit 16 nationella miljökvalitetsmål. Miljömålsarbetet kan ses som en del av de insatser som krävs för att vi ska skapa en hållbar utveckling, vilken är en målsättning som ska genomsyra hela vårt samhälle. Myndigheter har tilldelats ansvaret för att de nationella miljömålen implementeras, men att målen nås är hela samhällets ansvar. I denna avhandling analyseras de kommunikativa villkoren i det svenska miljömålsarbetet. Studien bygger till stor del på erfarenheter som kommit till uttryck i de fokusgruppsintervjuer som genomförts med miljömålsansvariga tjänstemän på centrala, regionala samt kommunala myndigheter. Såväl politiska dokument som myndighetsrapportering har analyserats och satts i relation till tjänstemännens erfarenheter. Utifrån teorier om målstyrning, implementeringsprocesser och kommunikation i sociala system analyseras sedan kommunikativa barriärer och broar, hur de visar sig och kan förklaras.Avhandlingen visar att det finns kommunikationsbarriärer men också broar i miljömålsarbetet. När nya mål och beslut ska omsättas i etablerade organisationer uppstår kommunikationsbarriärer både inom myndigheter och i kommunikationen med andra aktörer i samhället. Att implementera beslut om ett nytt målstyrningssystem i en komplex omvärld med dess ekologiska såväl som sociala system är ingen friktionsfri process. Olika systemkoder som är i bruk kan förklara en del av problematiken, men även otydlighet i målsystem och bristande resurstilldelning. En utmaning inför framtiden blir att skapa information som ger resonans och skapar mening i olika sociala system och därigenom bidrar till möjligheterna att nå de nationella miljökvalitetsmålen.
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| 42. |
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| 43. |
- Kuchler, Magdalena, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Bioenergy as an empty signifier
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This article scrutinizes the bioenergy concept in the context of the three challenges of energy insecurity, climate change, and the agricultural crisis that, borrowing from Gramsci, constitute a “global organic crisis”. The analysis, based on theoretical concepts developed by Laclau and Mouffe, explores assessments, reports, policy papers, and other central documents from three influential international organizations, i.e., IEA, FAO, and IPCC, in the areas analysed. We argue that, as a floating signifier in a given field of discursivity, the bioenergy notion loses its unfixed ability to occupy specific positions and convey different meanings within the three overlapping discursive areas of energy, climate, and agriculture. These three discursive formations are “sutured” around the notion of bioenergy, where a hegemonic thread of capitalist economics, fixated on economic growth and presupposing the necessity of cost-effectiveness, results in internal contradictions within the signification, transforming bioenergy into an empty signifier.
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| 44. |
- Kuchler, Magdalena, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Bioenergy as an Empty Signifier
- 2016
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Ingår i: The Review of Radical Political Economics. - : SAGE Publications. - 0486-6134 .- 1552-8502. ; 48:2, s. 235-251
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article provides insight into the contemporary international bioenergy debate and scrutinizes how the idea of biofuel production as a win-win-win solution to energy insecurity, climate change, and agricultural stagnation came into being, what discursive forces bind such a conceptualization, and where dislocations arise. Based on critical assumptions of discourse theory developed by Laclau and Mouffe, the analysis explores assessments, reports, policy papers, and other central documents from three influential international organizations—the International Energy Agency, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization—that provide an entry point to the global debate on biofuels. We show that the bioenergy concept occupies specific positions and conveys different meanings within the three overlapping discourses of energy, climate, and agriculture. These three discursive areas are further “sutured” around the notion of biofuel production, where a hegemonic thread of the capitalist market economics, fixated on economic growth and presupposing the necessity of cost-effectiveness, results in internal contradictions and dislocations within the win-win-win conceptualization, emptying bioenergy of any content.
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| 45. |
- Kuchler, Magdalena, 1979-
(författare)
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Fields of Gold : The Bioenergy Debate in International Organizations
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The concept of producing energy from biomass has, for the last two decades, occupied attention of policy-makers, private industries, researchers and civil societies around the world. The highly contested and contingent character of the biofuel production, its entanglement in the nexus of three problematic issues of energy, climate and agriculture, as well as its injection into the current socioeconomic arrangements, is what makes it timely to analyse.The thesis sheds light on the state of international debate on bioenergy by looking at deliberations of three major global institutions: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Energy Agency (IEA) and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The primary aim is to trace and analyse how the concept of bioenergy is conceptualized and contextualized in assessments, reports, policy papers and other documents issued by FAO, IEA and IPCC in the 1990-2010 period. The secondary aim of the thesis, based on results derived from the primary objective, is set to problematize and reflect upon currently dominating socioeconomic arrangements that the concept of biomass-derived energy is inserted into. The research questions are organized around four distinctively contentious issues in the debate: biofuel production in developing countries, the food vs. fuel dilemma, bioenergy as a win-win-win solution and the future role of the second-generation bioenergy technology. The research questions are operationalized by applying four theoretical perspectives: the world-economy, Michel Foucault’s genealogy, discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, and Fredric Jameson’s critical approach.The institutional debate illustrates that, while bioenergy appears to be an easy, plausible and thus attractive patch able to temporarily fix societal challenges of energy insecurity, climate change and agricultural crisis without changing much in the socioeconomic structure, its implementation exposes internal discrepancies of the hegemonic capitalist system. Whether bioenergy could actually function as a feasible win-win-win solution is of secondary importance. It is its economic feasibility expressed in the pressure on cost-effectiveness that matters the most but, at the same time, causes serious internal discrepancies in conceptualizations pursued by the organizations. The results point to two main conclusions. On the one hand, bioenergy is inevitably entrapped by the rules and arrangements of the hegemonic system that, in turn, cause internal contradictions. On the other hand, the institutional debate attempts to stabilize the shaky conceptualization of bioenergy, so that it can appear consistent and plausible, even if the possibility of reaching the closure of meaning fades away, with more conflicts on the rise. Furthermore, the results also show that the three international organizations exhibit uniform patterns of argumentations and the way they similarly discuss biomass-derived energy illustrates the objective to stabilize the meaning and adjust the concept of bioenergy to the hegemonic system.
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| 46. |
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| 47. |
- Lövbrand, Eva, et al.
(författare)
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Who speaks for the future of Earth? : how critical social science can extend the conversation on the Anthropocene
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Global Environmental Change. - : MIT Press. - 0959-3780 .- 1872-9495. ; 32, s. 211-218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper asks how the social sciences can engage with the idea of the Anthropocene in productive ways. In response to this question we outline an interpretative research agenda that allows critical engagement with the Anthropocene as a socially and culturally bounded object with many possible meanings and political trajectories. In order to facilitate the kind of political mobilization required to meet the complex environmental challenges of our times, we argue that the social sciences should refrain from adjusting to standardized research agendas and templates. A more urgent analytical challenge lies in exposing, challenging and extending the ontological assumptions that inform how we make sense of and respond to a rapidly changing environment. By cultivating environmental research that opens up multiple interpretations of the Anthropocene, the social sciences can help to extend the realm of the possible for environmental politics.
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| 48. |
- Medina, Eduardo, 1957-
(författare)
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Från ”tyst vår” till ”hållbar utveckling” : En kritisk diskursanalys av miljöfrågans utveckling 1962–1987
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation studies the development of the environmental issue from a discursive perspective. Through an analysis of views on nature and the environment in several NGOs and main political organs, the dissertation tries to explain how a certain view became hegemonic. The analysis pertains to the period between the publication of Silent Spring in 1962 and the introduction of the concept sustainable development by the UN in 1987. From a realistic starting point and with critical discourse analysis (CDA) as its method, the dissertation aims to identify causal powers and mechanisms that have generated and institutionalized the environmental discourse. An analytical model is developed and applied on three levels; a sociolinguistic, institutional, and macrosocial level; which also reflect the methodological progression of the study from description to explanation.The result shows that the discursive practice was hegemonized by a Western view promoting economic growth. This discourse gradually gained ground at the expense of an anti-systemic discourse which posited structural societal changes as the answer to environmental problems. Mechanisms such as the exclusion of some views and actors from common discursive practices were crucial for the process of homogenizing the discourse and developing consensus. Through incorporating that part of the environmental movement which did not fight the dominant economic and political system, the UN turned it into support for its own project, which is part of the process of hegemony. At the same time the environmental objectives of the hegemonic discourse were established in the institutional spheres.The institutionalization of the environmental issue changed the focus from social critique to a question of development and technology, something which helped displace the original critical and partially anti-systemic character of environmental discourse. Through turning the critical and negative account of the situation into a more harmonious and hopeful vision, for instance in terms of sustainable development, a foundation was laid for the later development of ecological modernization. When the hegemonic discourse invested the concept of sustainable development with emphases on progress and economic growth, it encapsulated the environmental issue within the framework of the prevailing social system.
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| 49. |
- Mobjörk, Malin, 1972-
(författare)
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En kluven tid? : En studie av idéer och föreställningar om vetenskap och kunskap i Stiftelsen för miljöstrategisk forskning, MISTRA
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- During the 1990's an increased debate concerning a new way of funding, organising and doing research is discernible. Characteristic elements in this are: collaboration between university and industry, context of application, user orientation and interdisciplinarity. A parallel development related to the environmental issues can also be distinguished, where the discourse of sustainable development has become the dominating political vision. How these changing contexts affect and influence a funding agency is analysed in this thesis.The source for the analysis is the Foundation of strategic environmental research, Mistra. Mistra was established in 1994 aiming at a renewal of Swedish environmental research, in which contributing to the vision of sustainable development is a central goal. Other characteristic objectives in Mistra are: solution orientation, user involvement, interdisciplinarity, and contributing to the competitiveness of Sweden. The main purpose of the thesis is to analyse ideas and notions about science and knowledge concerning the environmental problematic as viewed in Mistra. A specific interest is also directed to views and notions of the role of science in contemporary society.The main conclusion concerns awareness of epistemological issues in Mistra regarding different forms of knowledge and ways of doing research. This is especially apparent in the discussion related to evaluation of research, interdisciplinary, social sciences and user involvement. Moreover, I stress that this tendency also could be recognized in theories of knowledge production. Understanding Mistra as an example of contemporary knowledge production the post-positivist notions of knowledge, which is particularly argued for in theory of Mode 2, is therefore questioned. Consequently, issues of prerequisites and conditions of the occurrence of reflexivity and post-positivist epistemological thoughts are stressed and epistemological notions mirrored in contemporary knowledge production are discussed using the two concepts of unreflected ambivalence.
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| 50. |
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