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- Schoultz, Isabel, 1981-
(författare)
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Controlling the Swedish state : Studies on formal and informal bodies of control
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The dissertation aims to develop an understanding of the outcomes and limitations of formal and informal control of the Swedish state, and of the positions and strategies of the social agents involved in this field. The dissertation contributes with new perspectives on controls directed at the state, comparing various control organs (the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Chancellor of Justice, the United Nations, the European Court of Human Rights and NGOs) and focusing on a wide range of wrongs and harms by the Swedish state.Paper I explores incidents for which the Swedish state and its agencies have been judged to be responsible by formal control organs. Paper II analyzes the accounts used by state representatives in judgments from formal control organs on issues related to migration. Paper III examines the characteristics of those who hold the state accountable via the European Court. Paper IV explores how formal and informal control organs frame problems in relation to the Swedish state’s treatment of residence permit applicants.The studies demonstrate that formal domestic control organs mainly direct criticisms at state agencies that focus on particular and procedural issues. International bodies of formal and particularly informal control publish criticisms of the state that focus on general and systemic issues. The dissertation highlights how control organs offer limited access to accountability, and how controls of the state may be perceived as both ineffective and counterproductive. Another conclusion is that the positions and strategies of the agents in this field are dependent on their specific capital (resources, knowledge and support). Control of the state is understood as a field of struggle for recognition and legitimacy, in which accusations are denied by representatives of the state and control organs balance their criticism in order to maintain credibility. Both informal control organs and those who hold the state accountable must adjust to the rules of the game or risk being defined out.
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| 2. |
- Singh, Nandita, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Accessing water through a rights-based approach : problems and prospects regarding children
- 2012
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Ingår i: Water Policy. - : IWA Publishing. - 1366-7017 .- 1996-9759. ; 14:2, s. 298-318
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The right to water has been recently recognized as a fundamental human right by the United Nations, thereby clarifying its status as 'legally binding', making it 'justiciable' and enforceable. This development has been heralded as a key that holds great potential to change the lives of the billions who still lack access to clean water. Many of those deprived of enjoyment of the right are children, who constitute up to a third of the population in the developing world. What is the value added of the rights-based approach for access to water, especially for children? Would recognition of the right to water as legally binding deliver real benefits to children in improving their access to water? Does it really offer anything new that can help them realize their right to water more effectively? These questions will be explored in this paper using empirical evidence from India, where water has been legally interpreted as a fundamental right, and as a welfare state, where there has been consistent effort on part of the state to improve children's access to water.
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| 3. |
- Svensson, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
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The Field of Social Regulation: How the State Creates a Profession
- 2013
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Ingår i: Professions and Professionalism. - : Oslo and Akershus University College. - 1893-1049. ; 3:2, s. 1-16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article describes the process of professionalisation in the field of social control in Sweden. The aim is to analyse how the state by legislation created the profession of social workers for local social services and thus for social control by public administration. We show how organisations for social work have developed and played an important role since the 19th century and that social investigation should be seen as a hub for the practice. The work now mediated though professional organisations was initially performed by volunteers. In the early 20th century, volunteers and employed social workers cooperated, where social investigation was a central task for social workers. In the 1960s and ‘70s, more social workers were educated, the importance of social investigation was highlighted, and volunteers became subordinated to paid social workers. The legal professions have throughout the process had a role in making decisions, but not in the performance of investigating or executing procedures.
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| 4. |
- Svensson, Måns, et al.
(författare)
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Welfare as a means for political stability : a law and society analysis
- 2012
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Ingår i: European Journal of Social Security. - 1388-2627. ; 14:2, s. 64-85
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There have been extensive discussions in academic circles of why some countries develop into welfare states while others do not. Two main factors mentioned in these discussions are economic growth and the need for political stability. In these discussions, the example of Sweden, where the welfare state allegedly emerged from a ‘culture of consensus’, has often been treated as an historic exception. In this article we discuss the relevance of the two main factors suggested in the literature, and investigate whether Sweden is a rare case of a country where welfare arose out of a culture of consensus or if welfare in Sweden emerged as a product of strategies that aimed at promoting political stability, and thereby followed a similar pattern to other Western European countries. In undertaking this task, we have conducted a review of the literature and used Migdal’s ‘state-in-society’ perspective and the ‘institutional approach’ as a theoretical framework. Our results can be summarised under three headings: (a) until the mid-twentieth century, Sweden was a highly unstable, conflict-ridden class society, and thereby a followed similar pattern to other Western European countries; (b) welfare reforms in Sweden were introduced as a means of addressing political and social instability; (c) Sweden is therefore no exception to the theory that deep political crises trigger welfare reforms.
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| 7. |
- Åström, Karsten, et al.
(författare)
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Parallel norm creating processes
- 2013
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Ingår i: Social and Legal Norms. Towards a Socio-legal Understanding of Normativity. - Farnham : Ashgate. - 9781409453437
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
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| 8. |
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