| 1. |
- Andersson, Rickard
(author)
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Bridges, Walls, Doors : On Democracy and Nature
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The concept of green democracy has been advanced in green political theory as a way to include the natural world in the political and, by that, overcome an alleged wall, a fundamental disunity, separating humans and nature in modernity and substitute it with a unity of identity that would bridge the gap between them. It has also been vested with the coupled power to transform society in a sustainable direction. This study argues that green democracy disqualifies the concept of democracy it adopts and that, instead of bringing humans and nature together in a unity of identity, it reproduces a relation between them according to which they form a unity of difference, a relation where they are connected as if being the inside and outside of a door. Through a historical analysis of medieval, early modern, and modern modes of Western thought, it is shown that modernity does not wall humans off from nature but instead relates them in such a unity of difference and that this particular relation is fundamental for the modern concept of democracy in general, which is shown to have the same meaning as democracy has in the concept of green democracy. A tendency within the modern concept of democracy to disqualify itself is also delineated. The analysis suggests that the conceptualisation of green democracy in green political theory reproduces a unity of difference between humans and nature because it adopts a modern concept of democracy presupposing such a relation, and that it disqualifies its own concept of democracy because modern democracy tends to disqualify itself. Also, this tendency, it is argued, is exacerbated in green democracy.
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| 2. |
- Gade Viksand, Sindre
(author)
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A World of Persons
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This is a study of subjecthood in international thought. Human beings and states, while often held to be opposed to one another, share this: they are international thought’s key subjects. The following chapters attempt to answer the question of why that is. The main argument advanced is that this is because of the particular language in which subjecthood is articulated, the language of personhood, which stipulates certain criteria—chief among them rationality—by which someone or something becomes a person and thus a subject. This theoretical argument is one that is made historically: rather than explaining why this needs to be the way in which subjecthood is assigned, it is a study of how this came to be. Through a study of key texts in the history of international thought from the seventeenth-century to today, it purports to document both this language’s emergence and its effects. It traces, on the one hand, how the language of personhood became a central language of international thought and how this has led to the prioritization of human beings and states, on the other. The final chapter of this study broadens the scope to discuss other implications this language has had upon international thought in general and humanity and the state in particular, arguing that it has not only cemented these two as international thought’s central subjects, but also made them dependent upon one another, which in turn makes it exceedingly difficult to specify which of the two ought to be taken as the most important subject of international thought.
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| 3. |
- Gustafsson, Daniel
(author)
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The Present People
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In modern political thought, one of the most recalcitrant, and increasingly pressing, questions of modern democracy is whether, and in what sense, the people can be present. While the presence of the people has, and continues to be, the sine qua non of the democratic form of government, it has also been for a long time held that the people cannot be present literally or in fact. According to the conventional narrative, this absence has been seen as a necessary acquiescence to the problem posed by the modern state, territorially expansive and populous, precluding an assembly democracy in which all can be physically present. The paradox which thus underpins modern democracy is that the people, being represented, is present in some sense, while not present literally or in fact.This thesis argues that the conventional narrative of the paradox of presence of modern democracy remains incomplete. It argues that in posing the question of what it means to speak of the presence of the people, contemporary political theory and intellectual history has so far neglected the question of time. Turning to the history of political thought of early modernity, the thesis contends that in the political thinking of Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Pufendorf and Robert Filmer, the critique of the democratic assembly was indeed framed primarily as one of time, rather than size and space. The democratic assembly, it was suggested, could not be present often enough to ensure the continuance of political order. Taking this problem of presence as a point of departure, the thesis traces its constitutive role in the political thought of some of the key thinkers of modern political thinking, including John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as some of the central theorists of representative government from the end of the eighteenth century. It argues that while the question of time gradually came to be lost from the vocabulary of modern political thought, the problem continued to underpin and structure modern thinking on democracy and popular sovereignty. The imperative which thus continues to underpin modern democratic thought, though largely implicit, is that the people, understood as a political unity, must be made present often enough to ensure the continuance of political order.The thesis suggests that bringing this imperative to the fore allows political theory a greater understanding of the paradox of presence which imbues modern political thinking on democracy and popular sovereignty.
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| 4. |
- Røed, Maiken
(author)
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Interest Group Influence on Political Parties in Western Democracies
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis asks when and why interest groups influence political parties. I address this question in two ways: 1) by examining the organizational ties between parties and interest groups, given that party-interest group ties may constitute an important step on groups' way to influence, and 2) by more directly examining interest group influence on parties. By doing this, the thesis contributes to the literatures on interest group influence, party positions, and party-interest group ties. Paper I examines the relationship between private and public party finance and party-interest group organizational ties. The paper lends systematic support to the idea that groups and parties are more likely to maintain closer relationships today when the groups donate money. The institutional setting the actors operate in may furthermore affect ties.Paper II gives an overview of the Party-Interest Group Relationships in Contemporary Democracies (PAIRDEM) datasets, and presents descriptive results regarding the organizational ties parties and interest groups maintain today. Paper III considers the relationship between parties' goals and interest group influence on parties. I find that interest groups are more likely to perceive that they influence parties they are ideologically similar to as well as parties that are more willing to compromise on policy. Interest groups' access to parties moreover seems to be an important mechanism here. Paper IV asks whether organizational ties affect one-sided interest group influence on parties as well as mutual party-interest group influence. We find positive correlations between stronger ties and both types of influence.Paper V asks when parties listen to interest groups and adopt their input. I find that parties are more likely to do this when 1) the issue in question is less publicly salient, 2) parties emphasize the issue more than their competitors, 3) the interest group input is supported by a larger and/or more coordinated interest group coalition, and 4) parties are in opposition.
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| 5. |
- Strandgaard, Jakob
(author)
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Normative Recursion : on Recursive Grounding and the Capacity for Radical Critique in Formal Pragmatics, Recognition, Social Freedom and Justification
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis explores the meta-ethical question: What properties would be required of a normative critical concept in order for it to be (a) derived from the social facticity of prevailing norms, practices and institutions in a given society and (b) still be capable of informing radical critique? This thesis takes radical critique to mean one that escapes all charges of status quo biases and thus truly transcends the immanent content of the norms, practices and institutions from which it was derived.This thesis asserts that the necessary property of such a concept is recursion. That is, the property of a self-referentiality that allows for something to hierarchically contain copies of itself. The idea of finding the property of recursion in normative political theory and defending its utility is undertheorized in the political theory literature. By locating the property of recursion in the formal pragmatics of Jürgen Habermas, in Axel Honneth’s concepts of recognition and social freedom and in Rainer Forst’s concept of justification, this thesis remedies this situation. In doing so, a space is carved out for normative political theory between foundationalism and anti-foundationalism and between the utopian and realist approach.
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| 6. |
- Aggestam, Karin
(author)
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Reframing and Resolving Conflict : Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations 1988-1998
- 1999
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO in 1993 signalled a major shift in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This study examines, both theoretically and empirically, the basic question of how meaning of conflict may change and how conflict may be resolved. The broad aims are: first, to analyse and empirically improve knowledge of the transitional processes from conflicting interaction to cooperation in the Israeli-Palestinian case; and second, to develop conflict research by advancing theoretical ideas concerning these processes. Three analytical concepts constitute the core of the research problem: (i) meaning, (ii) reframing and (iii) resolving. These concepts are advanced throughout this study by an adaptive interplay between theoretical concepts and empirical analysis. The meaning of conflict highlights the dominant frames of political actors and the international and domestic normative and behavioural structures of conflict. The reframing of conflict is linked to negotiation by an emphasis on such concepts as turning point, motivation, opportunity and focal point. The resolving of conflict, which is the subject of the most extensive part of the study, focuses on frame, strategy, structural characteristics, and processes of negotiation. Drawing theoretical insights from constructivism, conflict research, negotiation theory and social psychology, the author advances a dynamic theoretical model, using an agent-structure approach. The single-case study of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict covers a period of eleven years, 1988-98. The author presents an in-depth analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during this period, which constitutes one of the first major studies to cover the entire interim period. The empirical analysis centres on the implications of the intifada for the level of agent and structure, and the behavioural turning point, constituted by the 1991 Madrid Conference. The official negotiation process from 1991 to 1998 is then analysed and categorised in three phases: public diplomacy, two-track diplomacy, and trilateral diplomacy. The negotiation process was characterised by an oscillation between competitive and problem-solving frames of negotiation, a diversity of mediation and negotiation strategies, major structural restraints emanating from the domestic arenas, and various obstacles to communication. These phases of negotiation highlight the cyclical, transformative nature of conflict.
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| 7. |
- Ahrnens, Anette
(author)
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A Quest for Legitimacy : Debating UN Security Council Rules on Terrorism and Non-proliferation
- 2007
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Since the end of the Cold War, international politics and international law have not only become increasingly intertwined, but their mutual implications have also become increasingly recognized by scholars. Yet research explicitly addressing the question of how political factors affect the emergence of legal rules is still limited. This doctoral dissertation aims to take a step in the direction of solving that puzzle by focusing on the construction of legitimacy at the crossroads between international politics and international law. It is argued that all forms of international rule-making, whether through the international legal process or in more political forums, depend on being perceived as legitimate, but that they may differ in terms of what normative values their claim to legitimacy is based on. Viewing legitimacy as a continuously and socially constructed concept, this study focuses on the practice of legitimation. Distinguishing two logics of legitimation - one legal and one political - the author develops a framework for the analysis of so-called legitimation arguments. Each logic further consists of two elements of legitimacy: one procedural and one more substantive. In the case of the legal logic, these correspond to legality and justifiability, whereas in the political logic they are represented by consent and efficiency. This framework is then used to analyze states' legitimation arguments in relation to UN Security Council resolutions 1373 (on terrorism) and 1540 (on non-proliferation), which take the unprecedented step of creating instant and legally binding obligations for all 192 UN member states. The analysis demonstrates that all four elements figure prominently in states' legitimation arguments, thereby illustrating the utility of the framework. Furthermore, it reveals that political elements are often perceived as valid compensations for their legal counterparts in the general construction of legitimacy. With the Unites States being the initiator and main advocate for the creation of legal obligations through the Security Council, it is also possible to discuss these resolutions in terms of (collective) hegemonic international law. Lastly, the author concludes that a focus on the construction of legitimacy is a useful approach for analyzing the interrelationship between international politics and international law and that the deliberate substitution of political elements for legal ones in actors' legitimation arguments constitutes one example of how political factors may affect the emergence of legal rules.
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| 8. |
- Alasfoor, Reyadh
(author)
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The Gulf Cooperation Council : Its Nature and Achievements
- 2007
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- When Britain decided, in 1968, to terminate its official colonial presence in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf as of 1971, this action prompted the Gulf Arab States (Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman) to start the search for a form of partnership that would bring them together to better cope with the insecurity and danger surrounding them and their regimes. A key problem after the British withdrawal has been the notable military weakness of these states and the inability to effectively defend themselves against aggressive action. The six states share a similar economic, social, and political system, and acquired marked geo-political importance after the conclusion of World War II as a result of the discovery of massive oil and gas reserves. Following two years of negotiation, the states signed, on May 25, 1981 a charter creating a regional entity called the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ? which turned out to be something of a unique integrative experiment in the Arab world. Its main objectives are a customs union and political cooperation; harmonization of policies; a common external tariff; and general integration within its specified cultural, geographical, economic, and political bounds. The present study aims to analyze the regional cooperation and integration of these states. It is an attempt to trace the nature, emergence, and development of the GCC in a primarily tribal culture. It furnishes a description and exploration of specific aspects of the GCC: its structure and charter; its economic and political achievements; the challenges facing it; the factors that either enhance or hinder its ambitions. It is also an attempt to identify and discuss the security problems the member states face. This study additionally advances a theoretical framework focusing on certain concepts stemming from existing integration theories that have applicability to the integration of the GCC. The dissertation suggests that the GCC is in fact unique; neither a federal or confederal, it represents an elastic entity and political framework. Empirically, the study examines the GCC during the first twenty-five years of its existence (1979-2004), with the just stated aims to explore, explain, and analyze this integration effort in its specified cultural, geographical, political, and economic settings. To aid our understanding of this integrative venture, several important questions revolving around the very concept of integration, are raised. For instance, what are the circumstances under which the GCC emerged? To what extent is integration projects elite-inspired and forged, and to what extent, if at all, is it grass-root inspired? What challenges are the member states facing when trying to achieve their objectives? What is the significance of the existence of a ?core? within this integration? What are the local integrative and disintegrative factors, and how do they operate to hinder or enhance the integration project? What general observations can this study engender in terms of past and present integration aspects with specific focus on locally, regionally, and globally generated supports and stresses?
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| 9. |
- Altermark, Niklas
(author)
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After Inclusion : Intellectual Disability as Biopolitics
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This dissertation examines contemporary politics targeting people with intellectual disabilities. Since this group first emerged, under labels such as ‘idiocy’ and ‘mental deficiency’, around the turn of the 20th century, its members have been seen as lacking the capacities necessary for citizenship and full societal belonging. For the last forty years, however, liberal democracies and international organizations have set out to include the group through policies promoting citizenship, emphasising ‘self-determination’, ‘independence’, and ‘autonomous decision-making’ as key ambitions. As a result, institutional care has been downscaled and replaced by socially integrated living arrangements. This is often described as a shift of paradigms in disability politics. I argue that this shift means that the same ideas of humanity, as characterised by ‘reason’ and ‘rationality’, that was once used as a yardstick to define and exclude ‘intellectual disability’, are now being put to work to include the group. The purpose of the thesis is to provide a theoretical understanding of what happens after the introduction of this kind of politics, in the era that I call ‘post-institutionalisation’. I do so by approaching the government of this group as an instance of what Foucault called ‘biopolitics’, which denotes the efforts of governments to manage human life, and by drawing on Judith Butler’s theorising of subjectivity.The dissertation proceeds in three analytical steps. In its first part, by focusing on how ‘intellectual disability’ is constituted by scientific and classificatory knowledge, I argue that this diagnosis came into being and persists for purposes of government. Rather than being a biologically rooted condition that policies respond to and target, it is a political and normative category that is made to appear as biological and natural. In this way, a firm line between ‘normalcy’ and ‘intellectual disability’ is constructed. In the second part, I examine how this group today is targeted by policies aiming for inclusion and citizenship. The result of how intellectual disability is both seen as the opposite of the norm of the ‘good citizen’ and as the target of citizenship inclusion, is a politics that simultaneously includes and excludes intellectual disability. Thus, rather than discarding the power exercised over people with intellectual disabilities, power has transformed into a biopolitical regime that seeks to mould members of this group to become included citizens, whilst concurrently upholding their exclusion by continued constraints. Lastly, in the third part of the study, I examine the possibilities of contesting the contemporary biopolitical regime. Here, the main argument is that a productive critique of the government of intellectual disability needs to reconsider the notion that humanity is defined by its capacities of ‘reason’ and ‘rationality’.
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| 10. |
- Andersson, Per F.
(author)
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Essays on the Politics of Taxation
- 2017
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Taxation is a key activity of any state and a constant point of political struggle. The structure of taxation is continuously changing and evolving, and its size has grown dramatically during the last two hundred years. Many of the cross-national patterns we observe today are the result of centuries old conflicts and challenges, hence we need to take history into account if we want to understand contemporary tax systems. This dissertation is concerned with the evolution of taxation in the last two centuries. During this period modern parliamentary democracy developed and spread, and it is during this period that the contemporary party systems crystallized and the broad lines of conflict between the left and the right emerged. Thus, this period is crucial for our understanding of the effects of political institutions and ideology on policy making.Because of a lack of comparative information on taxation with a long time scale, previous research has been constrained to a small number of mostly European countries. In this dissertation I present a novel dataset (a collaboration with Thomas Brambor) over government tax revenues covering 31 countries from 1800 to 2012. The dataset is unprecedented in both temporal and geographic scope and includes countries from Europe, North America, South America, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.The first paper is concerned with the notion that democracy itself has an impact on taxation by extending influence to previously excluded groups of poor citizens. I present evidence for the argument that the effects of democracy depend on urbanization. Democratization in an urbanized state leads to higher taxes on income and lower taxes on consumption. In contrast, democratization in rural countries is associated with lower taxes on property.The second paper investigates the influence of ideology on taxation. A puzzle in the literature is why left-wing parties are associated with regressive taxation (e.g., on consumption). I argue that how left-wing governments tax depend on the institutional environment. In countries using majoritarian/plurality electoral systems the left relies more on income tax, and in countries using proportional representation systems the left relies more on consumption tax.In the third paper I investigate the mechanism behind left-wing tax strategy in more detail by studying reforms of consumption taxation in post- war United Kingdom and Sweden. I find that strategic considerations related to how the political system concentrates power in the United Kingdom affected the Labour Party’s attitude towards the value-added tax and its decision not to adopt the tax. The left-wing government in Sweden on the other hand, operating in a different institutional context, decided to introduce a similar tax.The fourth paper, which is coauthored with Johannes Lindvall, contrasts political investments, of which taxation is one example, with short- term crisis management. We present a game theoretic model in which institutions that concentrate power are better at handling sudden crises but worse at making policy with short-run costs and long-term gains. Power-sharing institutions, on the other hand, are better at resolving inter- temporal dilemmas, but perform worse when faced with sudden crises.
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