| 1. |
- Christiansen, P. M., et al.
(författare)
-
Does politics crowd out professional competence? The organisation of ministerial advice in Denmark and Sweden
- 2016
-
Ingår i: West European Politics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0140-2382 .- 1743-9655. ; 39:6, s. 1230-1250
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of politically appointed ministerial advisors has increased noticeably in many Western countries, but we know little about how this development has affected the civil servants recruited on merit. The article asks whether political appointees accentuate or blur the line between politics and administration. Do political appointees take over political-tactical advice and leave policy advice to the permanent civil service, or do they cause permanent civil servants to be even more influenced by political considerations? And do political appointees make it easier or more difficult for the permanent civil service to be politically responsive? A Most Similar Systems Design comparison of Denmark and Sweden allows an assessment of the effects of political appointees. It is found that a large number of political appointees decreases functional politicisation of the permanent civil service; that functional politicisation tends to crowd out tasks related to more classic policy advice; and that functional politicisation increases political responsiveness.
|
|
| 2. |
- Niklasson, Birgitta, 1975
(författare)
-
Effective, but not the same: A Study of Female Diplomats’ Access to Information through Instrumental Ties
- 2019
-
Ingår i: European Conference on Politics and Gender, panel “Gender and the Changing Dynamics of Diplomacy”.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to explore female diplomats’ access to information through their work-related ties. We still have very limited knowledge of how this group do their jobs and how they do so in a context strongly dominated by men. What challenges, if any, does this male dominated environment present to their access to important information? Based on 28 interviews with diplomats and civil servants, this study explores female diplomats’ access to homosocial and heterosocial ties and the quality of these in terms of formality. Ties to government representatives, other diplomats, and civil society in the receiving country are considered. The experiences of the respondents imply that the three most important factors for gaining access are the formal status as a diplomat, what country you represent, and what country you are posted in. Being a woman is only considered to be of marginal import. In many ways, it is believed to bring slight advantages, but there are also examples of how gaining access appears to present more of a challenge to female diplomats. The results also suggest that the quality of heterosocial ties between women and men may be different – that they are more likely to remain formal – something that may have an impact on the kind of information that passes through these ties.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Niklasson, Birgitta, 1975, et al.
(författare)
-
Sweden: civil servants and political advisers as adversaries
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Minister, Minders, and Mandarines: an international study of relationships at the executive summit of parliamentary democracies. Richard Shaw, Chris Eichbaum (red.). - Northampton : Edward Elgar. - 9781786431684 ; , s. 163-179
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
|
|
| 7. |
- Niklasson, Birgitta, 1975, et al.
(författare)
-
The Swedish MFA: Ready to Live Up to Expectations?
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Aggestam K. & Towns A. E. (eds) Gendering Diplomacy and International Negotiation. - Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan. - 9783319586816 ; , s. 65-85
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 8. |
- Niklasson, Elisabeth, 1981-
(författare)
-
Funding Matters : Archaeology and the Political Economy of the Past in the EU
- 2016
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to show how Europe is constructed at the intersection between archaeology, money and politics within EU cultural actions. Ever since the 1970s, the European Community has invested money and prestige in the idea of a common cultural heritage for Europe. Alongside symbolic attributes such as the flag and anthem, archaeological sites have been used as rhetorical fuel to create a sense of European belonging, much like in national identity building. As a result, archaeologists and heritage professionals have benefitted from EU funding for restoration of sites, training schools and cooperation projects since 1976.In order to address this mutual engagement, the research in this thesis explores the ways that EU grant systems in culture have fostered specific approaches to Europeanness, and how supported projects have responded to notions about a common heritage. By considering EU officials, expert reviewers, consultants and archaeologists as co-creators of the frameworks they participate in, this study raises the idea of financial ties as a place of interaction. The study takes an ethnographic approach and uses discourse analysis and tools from Actor-Network Theory. The material consists of observations made during an internship at the European Commission, 41 interviews with different actors, as well as policy documents, budgets and collected information about 160 supported projects with archaeological themes.This research demonstrates how the expectations linked to archaeology have turned it into both a problem and a promise in the search for a 'usable past' for the EU. On the one hand, archaeology has functioned as an anchor, mooring the notion of a common heritage to something solid. On the other, because of its strong commitment to nationhood, what archaeology claims for its own has often undermined the very idea of a shared European inheritance. Projects benefitting from EU support have taken advantage of the expectations placed upon archaeology to help create a European identity, using buzzwords and 'application poetry' in their proposals. Many projects continuously used EU goals and symbols in their outputs. Sometimes a European past and present was connected by rhetorically tying archaeological periods (such as the Middle Ages and Roman Era) and phenomena (rock art or landscapes) to the EU political project. This link was more manifest in public settings than in academic ones. Taken together, the considerations brought up in this study show that funding matters. The EU strategy of vagueness, in which instructions and evaluation criteria foremost decide the frames but not the content of the projects, has inspired applicants to 'think Europe without thinking.' Once an application is written and submitted, a chain of translations by different actors works to depoliticise the act of constructing Europe. The EU, just as other funding bodies, has become entangled in the political ecology of archaeology. An entanglement which is unavoidable, but which needs to be critically addressed. Funding sources matter for the way we understand both the past and the meaning of archaeology in the present.
|
|
| 9. |
- Niklasson, Johan, et al.
(författare)
-
High morale and survival
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Psychosomatic Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-3999 .- 1879-1360. ; 85, s. 75-75
-
Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 10. |
- Niklasson, Johan, et al.
(författare)
-
High morale is associated with increased survival in the very old
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Age and Ageing. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0002-0729 .- 1468-2834. ; 44:4, s. 630-636
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: high morale is defined as future-oriented optimism. Previous research suggests that a high morale independently predicts increased survival among old people, though very old people have not been specifically studied.OBJECTIVE: to investigate whether high morale is associated with increased survival among very old people.SUBJECTS: the Umeå 85+/GErontological Regional DAtabase-study (GERDA) recruited participants aged 85 years and older in northern Sweden and western Finland during 2000-02 and 2005-07, of whom 646 were included in this study.METHODS: demographic, functional- and health-related data were collected in this population-based study through structured interviews and assessments carried out during home visits and from reviews of medical records. The 17-item Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGCMS) was used to assess morale.RESULTS: the 5-year survival rate was 31.9% for participants with low morale, 39.4% for moderate and 55.6% for those with high morale. In an unadjusted Cox model, the relative risk (RR) of mortality was higher among participants with low morale (RR = 1.86, P < 0.001) and moderate morale (RR = 1.59, P < 0.001) compared with participants with high morale. Similar results were found after adjustment for age and gender. In a Cox model adjusted for several demographic, health- and function-related confounders, including age and gender, mortality was higher among participants with low morale (RR = 1.36, P = 0.032) than those with high morale. There was a similar but non-significant pattern towards increased mortality in participants with moderate morale (RR = 1.21, P value = 0.136).CONCLUSION: high morale is independently associated with increased survival among very old people.
|
|
