| 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. |
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| 3. |
- Åström, Joachim, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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The feminine style, the male influence, and the paradox of gendered political blogspace
- 2016
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Ingår i: Information, Communication and Society. - : Routledge. - 1369-118X .- 1468-4462. ; 19:11, s. 1636-1652
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores gender differences in politic al communication among blogging politicians. The article sets out to explore two ba seline questions: (1) Are distinct gendered ‘blogstyles’ to be found among political representa tives? and (2) How do gender and gendered blogstyles interplay and affect the impact of political blogs? The empirical study draws on a survey targeting blogging politicians in Sweden (N=523). The analysis identifies substantial differences in how female and male poli ticians communicate in the blogosphere as well as the outcomes in terms of feedback and impac t. Female politicians, to a greater degree than their male counterparts, utilize blogging for the purpose of fostering a stronger connection with their readers as well as to enquire about ideas and policy perspectives. This strategy seems to be successful for fostering quali tative feedback from readers yet female bloggers have far less impact than their male colle ges. We discuss two potential understandings of these results; relating to gender stereotypes and the network power structure of the blogosphere.
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| 4. |
- Adenskog, Magnus, 1985-
(författare)
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Democratic innovations in political systems : towards a systemic approach
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There are many indicators that the representative democratic system is currently facing serious legitimacy challenges. Two central indicators of these challenges are changing patterns of political participation and a decline in system support. Against this backdrop, a growing number of governments claim that democratic innovations (DIs) could reconnect institutions with citizens. This thesis focuses on online DIs implemented in real political contexts, and the overarching aim of the thesis is to contribute to the emergent empirical scholarship on how DIs can influence political systems. In the last two decades, most empirical studies in the field have analysed DIs at the micro level.This thesis takes a different stance by posing system-related research questions to the implementation of DIs and, by doing so, showing how DIs are interrelated with, rather than isolated from, the political system and that DIs can influence political systems. The thesis consists of one literature review and three empirical case studies, applying a multiple methodological approach. Its novelty lies in three main empirical findings that contribute to the development of the field. First, it shows that participation in DIs can influence citizens’ perceived trust towards local political institutions. In addition, the results suggest that predispositions and prior engagement mediate the direction of change in trust amongst citizens. Secondly, the results show that DIs can perform different political functions, such as facilitating spaces for citizens to provide original ideas and deliberation, while also having an agenda-setting function. Thirdly, the result suggest that long-term institutional change is complex and that the implementation of DIs can create a situation in which civil servants and politicians perceive their organisation to be in some ‘state of flux’, as they are torn between two competing institutional logics. In conclusion, this thesis should be understood as a piece in a broader movement that works towards a systemic approach to the study of DIs, and that by showing these empirical findings, the thesis contributes to deepening our understanding of what influences and functions DIs can have in political systems.
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| 5. |
- 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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| 6. |
- 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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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Karlsson, Martin, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Did the Estonian Citizens’ assembly help restore political legitimacy? : Analyzing changes in vertical and horizontal trust among participants
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Estonian Citizens’ Assembly (ECA) was initiated in late 2013 as a direct consequence ofa 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 drawing on public crowd sourcing and deliberative mini-publics. This study is conducted on the basis of a broad survey among the participants in the culminating deliberative process of the ECA (n=847). The focus of this paper is on the relationship between citizen participation and political trust. Two main research questions guides this paper: (1) How has participants vertical and horizontal trust developed in relation to their participation in the ECA?, and (2) What factors explain variations of change in trust among participants? While existing research questions whether citizens engagement in political participation functions as a source of trust, participatory processes alike the ECA are continually being initiated with the explicit aim of impeding developments of growing public distrust and fostering a greater trust ingovernmental institutions.
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| 9. |
- Karlsson, Martin, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Social media and political communication : Innovation and normalisation in parallel
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Language and Politics. - : John Benjamins Publishing Company. - 1569-2159 .- 1569-9862. ; 17:2, s. 305-323
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As the Internet has come to play a greater role in politics, there has been a growing scholarly interest in how digital and social media are changing politics. The competition between the innovation and normalization hypotheses has been at the center of the debate. This article sets out to identify evidence of innovation and normalization in terms of how politicians communicate in- and the level of influence they are attaining within the political blogosphere. The analyses conducted show paradoxical results as we find that those groups of politicians who are utilizing political communication in the blogosphere in more innovative and progressive ways – mirroring the hopes and expectations about how social media might influence politicians and political communication – have weaker positions within the blog network compared to other politicians.
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| 10. |
- Åström, Joachim, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Can democratic innovations generate trust? : an e-petitioning case study
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Declining trust in representative institutions is considered to be one of the most significant political problems of our time. It is often assumed that democratic innovations – or mechanisms that aim to increase and deepen citizen participation in the political decision-making process - can help reversing this trend. However, skeptics claim that any impact on perceived trust is dubious at best. With survey data representing 1,470 e-petitioning participants in Swedish local government, this study aims to empirically assess the relationship between democratic innovations and trust. First we ask whether e-petitioning primarily engage dissatisfied or already satisfied democrats. This is interesting considering that conventional participation usually is biased towards satisfied democrats, while unconventional participation usually is biased towards dissatisfied democrats. How about democratic innovations? Second we ask to what extent the participants´ perceived trust in local government is affected by their participation. Results show that e-petitioning successfully engages both satisfied and dissatisfied democrats, as well as that political participation affects their trust in local government. However, changes in perceived trust vary according to participants’ predisposition toward government.
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