| 1. |
- Åberg, Jenny, 1978-
(författare)
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The Establishment of Semi-Presidential Regimes : A Mixed Methods Approach to How and Why
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- One of the crucial constitutional choices made in a democratizing or recently independent state is the structure of executive-legislative relations that forms into a parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential regime. Even so, only a few studies have sought the reasons for the establishment and least of all is known when it comes to the most recent of them: the semi-presidential one. The thesis aims to increase our knowledge on why and how semi-presidential regimes establish. This aim is approached through the use of three theoretical perspectives, including diffusion from abroad, the legacies incorporated in the domestic context, and the elites strategic bargaining expected by the perspective of transitional bargaining. Through its nested mixed methods approach, including two large-N and one single-case study, this thesis finds that semi-presidential establishment stem from all three perspectives: It is influenced by diffusion from international state networks, by legacies of post-communism and post-colonialism, as well as by the preferences of elite actors who attempt to act in a strategic manner. Semi-presidential establishment is thus a complex process and the application of the theoretical perspectives seem to depend on the level of uncertainty in the domestic context.Through its findings, this thesis increases our knowledge on why and how semi-presidential regimes are established. In addition, they contribute to the field of diffusion, semi-presidentialism, but also to the larger field of institutional studies. Future studies should test the application of the conclusions on parliamentary and presidential regimes and on all semi-presidential regimes part of the post-colonial context.
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| 2. |
- Alexopoulou, Sofia, 1984-
(författare)
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"Please Mind the Grey Digital Divide" : An Analysis of Digital Public Policies in Light of the Welfare State (Sweden and Greece)
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis examines the grey digital divide and digital policies in the divergent welfare regimes of Sweden and Greece. The grey digital divide is a serious problem not only for the individual but also for society. The grey digital divide signifies the inability of older people to utilize digital technology. In academic circles, the emphasis is mostly on the technological aspects of the grey digital divide or on the individual characteristics of older people as (non)users of digital tools. However, the problem is more complex in nature and is interconnected with the aging process and experience. The grey digital divide has multiple levels: the first concerns access, the second skills, and the third opportunities. This thesis concentrates mostly on the third level of digital divide because it touches on the welfare denominator. This particular level describes the encounters that older citizens need to have with the digital welfare state and the obstacles that they might face in doing this. Older digital “offliners” cannot take advantage of the welfare services that they need for their own well-being and cannot participate as equal citizens in digital space, which is expanding on a daily basis with new digital services.This thesis is situated in the discipline of political science and draws on various disciplines, such as political science (welfare regime theory, neo-institutionalism, and path-dependency), public policy (active aging paradigm), gerontology (disengagement), sociology (exclusion via the digital-by-default approach), and ICT studies (the phenomenon of digitalization and the third-level of the digital divide). The thesis is a compilation of papers and consists of two qualitative case studies, a comparative study, and a scoping literature review. The key findings are as follows: 1) older people are a heterogeneous group and this applies in the digital world as well, with the appearance of heterogeneous digital profiles; 2) the welfare regime seems to affect the manifestation of the grey digital divide and there is a path-dependency pattern in this; 3) the more digitalized a society, the greater the chance that older people not using technology will be excluded from the digital and social spheres; and 4) digital policies indicate the priorities of every society and how older people are perceived as a social group.
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| 3. |
- Cocos, Marta, 1988-
(författare)
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Hybrid Research Policy : How to Organize Research Funding
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Science and innovation are crucial parts of societal prosperity. Yet managing scientific activities is challenging because, even before the implementation of any give n policy starts, policy makers have to overcome the fact that there areprofoundly different views on what the role of science in society should be and hence how the state could intervene to shape or increase the research outputs. There are those who believe that the key role of science is to bring unforeseen discoveries through curiosity-driven research endeavors, while others believe that research should addresses societal challenges, like economic growth. Given these multitude of sometimes conflicting demands, and the multitude of policy actors embracing different demands, the research funding system tends to become fragmented. This phenomenon has been defined in scientific literature as institutional hybridization. However, as much as hybridization might be a pragmatic solution to addressing rising policy demands, it carries numbers of difficulties in designing the funding system and securing efficient implementation. Deeper understanding of institutional hybridity in research policy could help us avoid some of the existing problems and contribute to better informed design of research funding policy.This dissertation taps into the core of tensions that shape the way we fund science in Europe. It aims to provide a better understanding of how different expectations and requirements on research outputs are handled through the organization and implementation of public research funding. The first contribution of this dissertation is the elaboration of institutional logics shaping research funding policy: academic excellence, research utility, and funding efficiency logic. Another contribution of the thesis is better understanding of how the three logics are expressed in practice via different types of research funding efforts, as well as how they are then combined into a multi-level hybridity of research funding systems in Europe. The third contribution is the examination of the process of handling of tensions created by clash of institutional logics, providing an in-depth empirical insight into case of Swedish research policy.
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| 4. |
- Alexopoulou, Sofia, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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How the Responsibility of Digital Support for Older People is Allocated? The Swedish Welfare System at the Crossroads
- 2022
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Ingår i: Research on Ageing and Social Policy. - : Hipatia Press. - 2014-6728 .- 2014-671X. ; 10:1, s. 48-76
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A great welfare challenge today is to promote opportunities for greater digitalization, while limiting social inequalities from digital divides, especially for older people. While the digital divide is a dynamic problem, shifting from physical access to skills and usage, public policies to close the divide do not necessarily follow. This study explores who is providing digital support in Sweden by looking at three institutions: (1) the municipal eldercare system, (2) popular education institutions, and (3) the family. The results show that the Swedish policy relies heavily on popular education and family arrangements, leaving many young-old Swedes in need of digital support without public support, while the opposite occurs for very old Swedes who are mostly consumers of welfare technologies. Issues of dependency or the other way around arise. Given this, the role of the Swedish welfare state, which sets the tone of the Swedish welfare regime,needs to be re-evaluated, especially in light of the demographic challenge (a growing number of older people).
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| 5. |
- Alexopoulou, Sofia, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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The grey digital divide and welfare state regimes : a comparative study of European countries
- 2022
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Ingår i: Information Technology and People. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0959-3845 .- 1758-5813. ; 35:8, s. 273-291
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Technology access, digital skills, and digital services are increasingly prerequisites for public life and accessing public services. The digital divide in contemporary societies matters for efforts to digitalize the welfare state. Research has already mapped individual determinants of digital exclusion and the existence of an age-related digital divide. However, far less attention has been paid to variations in digital inclusion between countries and to their potential explanations related to political systems. This study explores the influence of variations in welfare regimes on the digital divide among seniors (aged 65+) in Europe.Design/methodology/approach: This article presents time-series cross-sectional analyses of the relationship between welfare state regimes and digital inclusion among seniors in European countries. The analyses are based on data from Eurostat, the World Bank, and the UN E-Government Survey.Findings: The authors find extensive variation in the digital inclusion of citizens between welfare regimes and argue that considering regime differences improves the understanding of these variations. The findings indicate that the age-related digital divide seems to be least evident in countries with more universalistic welfare regimes and most evident in countries where seniors rely more on their families.Originality/value: This is the first comparative study of the association between welfare state regimes and digital inclusion among seniors.
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| 6. |
- Karlsson, Martin, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Democratic Innovation in Times of Crisis : Exploring Changes in Social and Political Trust
- 2021
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Ingår i: Policy & Internet. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1944-2866. ; 13:1, s. 113-133
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Estonian Citizens’ Assembly (ECA) was initiated in late 2012 as a direct consequence of a legitimacy crisis of Estonian political parties and representative institutions. The spark igniting this crisis was the unravelling of a scheme of illegal party financing. The response from the governmental institutions took the form of a democratic innovation involving public crowd-sourcing and deliberative mini-publics. This study reports on a survey among the participants in the online crowd-sourcing process of the ECA (n=847). The study examines how this democratic innovation influenced participants’ social and political trust as well as the impact of participants predispositions and level of satisfaction with the ECA on changes in trust. We find that participants that had positive predispositions and who were satisfied with the ECA were more likely to gain trust. Further, we also find that the participants in general became more distrustful of political institutions, while their participation fostered increased social trust. This outcome departs from the intentions of the Estonian institutions which organized the ECA, and sheds new light on the role of democratic innovations in the context of legitimacy crises. This is an important step forward in the scholarly understanding of the relationship between democratic innovation and trust.
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| 7. |
- Åström, Joachim, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Does Policy Influence Hollow Out Public Managers’ Political Neutrality?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Administration & Society. - : Sage Publications. - 0095-3997 .- 1552-3039. ; 54:6, s. 1019-1044
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Consequences of public officials’ policy influence have been at the center of debates on political–administrative relations. Based on a survey of public managers in Swedish local government (N = 1,430), this study examines whether policy politics hollows out political neutrality. The analysis shows that although managers are highly involved in policy politics, attitudinal support for the neutrality principle is strong. The enquiry into behavioral intentions shows more variation. In relation to a set of dilemmas, most managers would defend neutral competence, but significant minorities would also act for more partisan reasons. However, we find no empirical evidence that policy influence undermines political neutrality.
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| 8. |
- Åström, Joachim, 1973-
(författare)
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Participatory Urban Planning : What Would Make Planners Trust the Citizens?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Urban Planning. - : Cogitatio Press. - 2183-7635. ; 5:2, s. 84-93
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on the critical stance of citizens towards urban planning, growing attention has been directed towards new forms of citizen participation. A key expectation is that advanced digital technologies will reconnect citizens and decision makers and enhance trust in planning. However, empirical evidence suggests participation by itself does not foster trust, and many scholars refer to a general weakness of these initiatives to deliver the expected outcomes. Considering that trust is reciprocal, this article will switch focus and concentrate on planners' attitudes towards citizens. Do urban planners generally think that citizens are trustworthy? Even though studies show that public officials are more trusting than people in general, it is possible that they do not trust citizens when interacting with government. However, empirical evidence is scarce. While there is plenty of research on citizens' trust in government, public officials trust in citizens has received little scholarly attention. To address this gap, we will draw on a survey targeted to a representative sample of public managers in Swedish local government (N = 1430). First, urban planners will be compared with other public officials when it comes to their level of trust toward citizens' ability, integrity and benevolence. In order to understand variations in trust, a set of institutional factors will thereafter be tested, along with more commonly used individual factors. In light of the empirical findings, the final section of the article returns to the idea of e-participation as a trust-building strategy. What would make planners trust the citizens in participatory urban planning?
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| 9. |
- Åström, Joachim, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Trust in citizens and forms of political participation : The view of public managers
- 2020
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Ingår i: Electronic Participation. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030581404 - 9783030581411 ; , s. 15-25
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Like all forms of collaborative governance, new forms of citizen participation include risk-taking and therefore depend on mutual trust between thecollaborating actors. While there is a huge body of research on citizens’ trust ingovernments, public officials’ trust in citizens has received very little scholarlyattention. In order to address this gap, this paper draws on a recent survey of arepresentative sample of public managers in local Swedish government(N=1430). Do public managers think that citizens are trustworthy? Does trust incitizens impact which forms of citizen participation public managers prefer?Even though public officials are more trusting than the general populous, weshow that not every public official do trust citizens. Furthermore, the results showpublic managers’ trust in citizens influences their attitudes towards new forms ofparticipation. Just as citizens’ political trust has a positive impact on some formsof participation, but not on others, managers’ trust in citizens matters more forsome forms of participation than others.
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