| 1. |
- Söderholm Werkö, Sophie, 1972-
(författare)
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Patient Patients? : Achieving Patient Empowerment through active participation, increased knowledge and organisation
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study examines patient empowerment in two local diabetes branch organisations in Sweden. In particular, the study focuses on the organisations’ membership, participation and influence on external actors. The overall aim of this thesis is to explore patient empowerment in order to discern what influence patient organisations and individual members can have and how they use it. This study is based on both quantitative and qualitative empirical data. Interviews with active members from two local diabetes organisations were conducted and a survey was carried out to identify the members’ thoughts and feelings about their membership, motivations, participation and influence, as well as to examine their local organisation, its work and influence. The findings form an overall picture of how members experience their organisation, memberships and empowerment. Characteristics of the two local patient branch organisations were identified and the leaders were found to be intensely dedicated people. The interviews, survey and participant observations revealed the members’ opinions about their organisation, their reasons for joining, their involvement, participation and influence, as well as their understanding of the local organisation and the Swedish Diabetic Association (SDA) and their possibility to empower them. Without organisations, members felt that they could not have a significant influence on external actors and events.
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| 2. |
- Bedford, Sofie
(författare)
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Islamic Activism in Azerbaijan : Repression and Mobilization in a Post-Soviet Context
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Post-Soviet Azerbaijan is often portrayed as a very secular country. Thus the mobilization of mosque communities in the late 1990s and their conflictual relationship with the authorities came as a surprise. The main aim of the dissertation is to shed light on this mobilization, focusing on the Sunni Abu Bakr and the Shi’ite Juma mosque communities in Baku. On the premise that Islamic mobilization may be interpreted as a “social movement”, internal, contextual and interactional aspects of mobilization have been studied. The analysis is chiefly based on interviews conducted in Baku in 2004/2005 with Imams, worshippers, religious and secular authorities. The study finds that young people looking for new approaches to religion have been drawn to these communities, where they encounter an independent, educated, conscientious clergy and, indeed, a “new” religion. This “sovereign” Islam does not go down well with authorities who fear politicization of religion. The Soviet heritage has provided them with a view of religion as something that should not be publicly displayed and with the institutions to control religion. Another key feature whose impact on state policy towards religious organizations cannot be underestimated is the fear of imported radicalism. A look at Islamic mobilization in North Caucasus, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reveals many similarities, yet one momentous difference is the harsher repression in these contexts, which decreases the chances of a non-radical mobilization. The thesis concludes that the role of the state in mobilization processes in non-democratic contexts is crucial but counterintuitive, as the regimes’ efforts to stop the mobilization of movements actually leads to its intensification. In Azerbaijan, official pressure brings community members closer together and strengthens their resolve, rather than putting an end to mobilization. It also puts a spotlight on these communities which lights up the way for others in search of something new.
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| 3. |
- Blomqvist, Håkan
(författare)
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Nation, ras och civilisation i svensk arbetarrörelse före nazismen
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ideas of nationalism, race and anti-Semitism are usually connected to right wing ideology and politics. This thesis, however, is studying them in the context of the socialist labour movement. That a radical left wing patriotism, inspired by the French revolution, developed intertwined with workers’ internationalism is well known. But this left wing nationalism has, in the Swedish case, been characterised as an “internal” tool for obtaining democratic rights and social reforms and not directed against other peoples and nations. Inspired by postcolonial studies of whiteness the thesis examines the views of development of mankind and of national difference expressed in Swedish socialist publicity since the 1850’s up to the late 1920’s. Empirical studies of magazines, brochures and books show that it is possible to distinguish a trace of socialist whiteness in the production of ideas from the labour movement, influenced by liberal radicalism. Here, by socialist whiteness is not primarily meant identities of skin colour but ideas that the working class was the true and purest part of the nation and that socialism primarily was of concern to the white races on top of the chain of development. How this whiteness could be counter-posed to peoples and races considered different or “lower placed”, such as Slavs and Jews, has been of particular interest. In opposition to import of foreign labour, “usury Jews” and Tsarist Russia, arguments of socialist whiteness could be developed. With the Russian October revolution in 1917 bolshevism could be described as an Asian threat under Jewish leadership, alien to Swedish labour. Eugenic concerns for the Swedish race also found spokespersons in the socialist milieu of the 1910’s and 20’s. When fascism in the 1920’s captured the most radical themes of socialist whiteness ideas of Jewish threat and race purity could no longer be combined with defence of democratic ideals and find a public space in social democracy.
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| 4. |
- Boalt, Elin, 1976-
(författare)
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Ecology and evolution of tolerance in two cruciferous species
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Tolerance to herbivory is the ability of plants to maintain fitness in spite of damage. The goal of this thesis is to investigate the genetic variation and expression of tolerance within species, determine whether and in what conditions tolerance has negative side-effects, and how tolerance is affected by different ecological factors. Tolerance is investigated with special focus on the effects of different damage types, competitive regimes, history of herbivory, and polyploidization in plants. Studies are conducted as a literature review and three experiments on two cruciferous species Raphanus raphanistrum and Cardamine pratensis.In the tolerance experiments, plants are subjected to artificial damage solely, or in a combination with natural damage. A literature review was conducted in order to investigate the effects of damage method. We found that traits related to tolerance, such as growth and fitness were not as sensitive in regard to damage method as measures of induced chemical traits, or measures of secondary herbivory.Genetic variation of tolerance was demonstrated within populations of R. raphanistrum and between subspecies of C. pratensis. In R. raphanistrum, traits involved in floral display and male fitness were positively associated with plant tolerance to herbivore damage. A potential cost of tolerance was demonstrated as a negative correlation between levels of tolerance in high and low competitive regimes. I found no evidence of other proposed costs of tolerance in terms of highly tolerant plants suffering of reduced fitness in the absence of herbivores or trade-offs in terms of a negative association between tolerance to apical and leaf damage, or between tolerance and competitive ability. In C. pratensis, higher ploidy level in plants involved higher levels of tolerance measured as clonal reproduction. Furthermore, populations exposed to higher levels of herbivory had better tolerance than populations exposed to lower levels of herbivory. In this thesis, I demonstrate evidence of different components for the evolution of tolerance in plants: genotypic variation, selective factors in terms of costs and ploidization, and selective agents in terms of changing environment or herbivore pressure.
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| 5. |
- Bornemark, Jonna
(författare)
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Kunskapens gräns, gränsens vetande : En fenomenologisk undersökning av transcendens och kroppslighet
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The limit between the proper and the foreign – how this limit is established, but also crossed and dissolved – has remained a crucial issue in phenomenology. Setting these questions in the context of the phenomenology of religion, this thesis develops an analysis of the relation between transcendence and body understood in terms of a certain limit. The introductory part is rooted in Edmund Husserl’s discussions of the concept of transcendence, which is shown to have an essential connection to the analysis of inner time-consciousness. Here we encounter a decisive limit to objectifying knowledge, which also comes across in his investigations of the body and its spatiality. The second part discusses Max Scheler’s critique of Husserl’s excessively objectifying view of knowledge, with a particular focus on Scheler’s understanding of love as a condition of possibility for any knowledge. Scheler is shown to have developed a new concept of transcendence that avoids the pitfalls of objectivism, although in his philosophy of religion he tends to downplay the importance of the body. The third part undertakes a reading of Edith Stein, who develops ideas similar to Scheler’s, though in a phenomenologically more nuanced fashion. Although her philosophy of religion also bypasses the body, Stein provides a more genuine access to the writings of the mystics, the analysis of which forms the core of the fourth and concluding part. Drawing on the work of the 13th century Beguine Mechthild of Magdeburg, this concluding chapter develops a phenomenological understanding of religion with an emphasis on transcendence and limit, while also retaining the centrality of our experience of the body. This means: a phenomenology of the limit is investigated, rather than a limit of phenomenology.
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| 6. |
- Bötker, Peter
(författare)
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Leviatan i arkipelagen : Staten, förvaltningen och samhället. Fallet Estland.
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sedan Max Weber har många forskare påvisat tendenser till ett samband mellan svaga regeringar och starka byråkratier. Man har i sammanhanget lyft fram två faktorer som gör att en byråkrati kan komma att dominera över sina politiska principaler: Å ena sidan har man menat att eftersom politikerna omöjligen kan ha egen expertis på alla områden och kunna sköta allt vardagligt behöver de delegera uppgifter till en förvaltning. Med tiden, och om principaler byts ut ofta, leder detta till att det till sist är förvaltningen som med sin expertis tenderar att bestämma över sina politiska huvudmän. Å andra sidan har man även påpekat att eftersom staten intervenerat i allt fler samhällsområden har detta gett förvaltningen möjligheter att där etablera olika allianser som i sin tur kan användas som källa till expertis och som en påtryckargrupp för att främja förvaltningens egna syften och planer. I denna studie försöker jag med hjälp av processer i den estniska statsförvaltningen under huvudsakligen 1990−talet visa att det inte med nödvändighet existerar ett kontinuum där man å ena sidan skulle hitta starka och aktiva regeringar med rationella, neutrala och lydiga kanslier till sitt förfogande och å andra sidan svaga regeringar som domineras av kansliet.Eftersom staten snarare är en social relation än ett givet subjekt utgår jag ifrån att de politiska ledaraktörerna och förvaltningen likt en ekologisk enhet ingår i en levande kontext som också påverkar dess interna processer och flöden. Därmed kan mycket av förvaltningens interna liv förstås om man relaterar det till händelser och beroendeskap i en organisk kontext. Jag kommer således att betrakta staten som en social relation. En viktig aspekt i resonemanget i detta avsnitt blir alltså dragkampen på scenen och dess omgivning. Tanken är att denna dragkamp bestämmer statens kapacitet, aktörernas relationer på scenen och på vilket sätt dessa aktörer kan få fotfäste i det omgivande samhället. Därför väljer jag att till beskrivningen av statens position i sin omgivning även lägga massorganisationernas och folkrörelsernas roll, vilka med sin utbreddhet i samhället kan lägga en bred grund för att bära upp de aktörer som intar staten alternativt omöjliggöra för staten att i politikskapande manövrera förbi dem. I detta ligger också att staten med hjälp av sin uppburenhet eller samarbete med stora medborgerliga sammanslutningar blir djupt inbäddad i samhället. Dock har massorganisationerna och folkrörelserna under de senaste decennierna förlorat sin förmåga att samla och organisera människor.I denna avhandling kommer jag att redogöra för de faktorer som medför att medborgarsammanslutningarnas förmåga att sammanfläta staten med medborgarna försvinner. Resultatet av denna process har blivit att de politiska organisationer som intog statsarenan saknar en bred och djup inbäddning bland befolkningen. När partierna därefter tvingas att garantera sin fortsatta delaktighet i utformandet av regeringsmaskineriet måste de vända sig till väljarkåren som de saknar all organisationell samhörighet med. Detta, menar jag, har fått vidare konsekvenser för politikskapandet och statens roll i samhället, samt i förlängningen även medfört konsekvenser för statsapparatens funktioner.
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| 7. |
- Dahl, Matilda, 1978-
(författare)
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States under scrutiny : International organizations, transformation and the construction of progress
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Opinions, rankings and evaluations of states’ development are proliferating. In the context of the transformation and EU accession of the Baltic States, there were many organizations involved in the scrutiny of their efforts to become accepted as modern and European. This scrutiny directed towards states can be seen as a new practice of transnational regulation. Especially in times of major transformation, as was the case in the Baltic States after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, monitoring and evaluation of achievements can be expected to shape how reforms were prioritized and how problems were perceived. In order to gain a better understanding of these transformations it is necessary to study the practice of organizations that scrutinize the states.The aim of the thesis is to analyze the role of scrutiny as a practice of transnational regulation. By analyzing how international organizations scrutinize states, this thesis adds knowledge to how transforming states are constructed in the everyday practices of scrutiny. A main argument is that by evaluating and reporting on states, international organizations can be seen as ‘auditors’ of transformations in states. The thesis compares three such ‘auditors’ and their respective relations to the states under scrutiny, namely: the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the NGO Transparency International. The thesis contributes to discussions about the role of transnational regulation in the transformation of states. By comparing the three cases of scrutiny it is concluded that scrutiny produces both comfort and critique for and about these transforming states. In addition, through processes of scrutinizing, states are constructed as auditable and comparable. Scrutiny also inscribes states into a story about progress, it thus offers hope about reforms and of a better future.
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| 8. |
- Doeser, Fredrik
(författare)
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In Search of Security After the Collapse of the Soviet Union : Foreign Policy Change in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, 1988-1993
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to explain the evolution of foreign policy in Denmark, Finland and Sweden with regard to Western security cooperation between 1988 and 1993. The study sets out to test two theoretical perspectives on the security cooperation policies of these three small states. The external political perspective is based on the idea that foreign policy is determined by the challenges of a state’s external political environment. The domestic political perspective is based on the idea that phenomena at the domestic level of the state have an impact on how governments cope with external constraints. The primary theoretical ambition is to integrate the findings from these two analyses in order to further an understanding of the mechanisms of foreign policy change in small states.In order to study the relationship between the environment and foreign policy change, the author applies a perceptual approach, which means that his intention is to explain foreign policy action on the basis of the perceptions actors have of the environment.The author draws a number of conclusions with regard to the mechanisms of foreign policy change. First, a perceptual approach is needed in order to analyze a state’s specific responses to international political change. Second, domestic factors are not only important for foreign policy in general but also for the evolution of security cooperation policy in small states under conditions of fundamental shift in the international system. Third, it is possible to attribute some degree of relative explanatory power to external factors and to assign a range of different roles to domestic factors. Fourth, governments of Western democratic small states pay relatively equal attention to external and domestic considerations when making their foreign policies. However, depending on the situation, the relative potency of external and domestic factors can vary.
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| 9. |
- Eellend, Johan
(författare)
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Cultivating the Rural Citizen : Modernity, Agrarianism and Citizenship in Late Tsarist Estonia
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation studies the ideas and political practices produced in the emerging rural public sphere in late Tsarist Estonia. The time period is characterized by radical social and economic change and growing national and political self consciousness. An underlying aim is to study the emergence and character of an agrarian ideology in Estonia, with a special concern paid for ideas on the organization of society.The first section examines the emerging of Estonian language agricultural instruction books and agricultural journals. Studying the content and the advice on modernization and organization of farm work uncovers their underlying ideas on the organization of the rural society. The second section deals with the ideas and ideals presented in the agricultural instructions through the work of local agricultural associations and agricultural cooperatives. Finally the ideals of the agricultural instructions and the practice of the associations are studied on a national level, as expressed at the Agricultural Congresses 1899 and 1905 and the All-Estonian Congress 1905.The study emphasizes the importance of the rural sphere in creating the foundation for the interwar Estonian society and shows significant ideological and organizational similarities between the Estonian agrarian movement and contemporary agrarian movements in Europe.
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| 10. |
- Ek, Arne, 1950-
(författare)
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Att konstruera en uppslutning kring den enda vägen : Om folkrörelsers modernisering i skuggan av det östeuropeiska systemskiftet
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is about some Swedish organizations that are connected to the labour movement and their actions to cope with the new hegemony around market liberalism. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90-ties, the liberal order, meaning market economy and democracy reduced to the election of elites, has become totally domineering both in the western and in the former communist world. Even left wing oriented organizations have adopted their operations and activities accordingly, especially in their internal governing structure. The organizations that I have studied, mainly the Swedish Tenants organization at its local level of Stockholm, developed during the 70-ties and the 80-ties a participatorier member structure. The “Swedish model” of consensus/corporative decision-making and agreement, used by them on the national level for decades, was during that period introduced also on local and regional levels. In the 90-ties these organizations, according to earlier studies, have instead adapted a more costumer-oriented and elite-democratic way of operating and governing. These later changes could be seen as contradicting both the development of the 80-ties and the basic values of those organizations. My questions are therefore how these changes became possible and my aim is to study how the active members have contributed to this development. Using a constructionist theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, I am showing how this potential conflict between a participatory and an elite-democratic model can be reconciled by a discursive construction. The active members have in fact been able see these changes just as a modernization of their organization. From their point-of-view their organization still works in a participatory democratic way. My analysis shows how this ambiguousness and potential paradox became possible thru internal discourses and under influence from the liberal hegemony.
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