Pelle Åberg, Inlaga Translating Popular Education
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Stockholm Studies in Politics 124 Translating Popular Education – Civil Society Cooperation between Sweden and Estonia Translating Popular Education Civil Society Cooperation between Sweden and Estonia Pelle Åberg Stockholm University ©Pelle Åberg, Stockholm 2008 ISSN 0346-6620 Stockholm Studies in Politics 124 ISBN 978-91-7155-596-0 (Stockholm University) ISSN 1652-7399 Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations 24 ISSN 1653-8269 Södertörn Political Studies 3 ISBN 978-91-89315-82-2 (Södertörns högskola) Cover picture: ©iStockphoto.com/fpm Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2008 Distributor: Department of Political Science, Stockholm University Contents Acknowledgements....................................................................................... vii Abbreviations ................................................................................................. ix 1. Introduction ...............................................................................................11 1.1 Background...........................................................................................................13 1.2 Aims, Questions and Theoretical Points of Departure ...........................................15 1.3 The Projects in Focus ...........................................................................................19 1.4 Material and Methodological Considerations.........................................................21 1.5 Outline of the Study...............................................................................................29 2. Civil Society and Democracy Promotion...................................................31 2.1 Civil Society ..........................................................................................................31 2.1.1 Defining Civil Society ....................................................................................32 2.1.2 Civil Society, Democracy, Citizens and Civic Competence ...........................35 2.1.3 Transnational Civil Society............................................................................41 2.2 Democracy Promotion...........................................................................................46 2.2.1 Democracy Promotion and Civil Society .......................................................47 2.2.2 Swedish Democracy Promotion and the Olof Palme International Center.....51 2.3 Concluding Remarks.............................................................................................54 3. Education, Democracy and Swedish Folkbildning....................................55 3.1 History and Ideology of Swedish Adult Education and Folkbildning .......................57 3.1.1 The Study Circle ...........................................................................................62 3.1.2 ABF...............................................................................................................65 3.1.3 NFA and NVL................................................................................................70 3.2 The Present Situation............................................................................................72 3.3 Democracy and Popular Education .......................................................................74 3.4 Travelling Ideas?...................................................................................................78 4. Adult Education in Estonia ........................................................................83 4.1 Estonian Adult Education and its Associations in Historical Perspective ...............83 4.2 The Present Situation............................................................................................86 4.3 AHL.......................................................................................................................92 4.4 Concluding Remarks.............................................................................................94 5. Dissemination of Ideas and Organizational Forms...................................97 5.1 Diffusion................................................................................................................98 5.2 Socialization........................................................................................................102 5.3 Translation ..........................................................................................................106 5.4 Studying Processes of Dissemination .................................................................114 6. The Estonian Transformation and Swedish Connections.......................125 6.1 The Estonian Transition ......................................................................................126 6.2 Swedish – Estonian Relations.............................................................................131 6.3 Concluding Remarks...........................................................................................135 7. Making Contact .......................................................................................137 7.1 What Is the Problem?..........................................................................................137 7.2 First Contacts......................................................................................................141 7.3 NFA and the Baltic States ...................................................................................144 7.4 Concluding Remarks...........................................................................................145 8. The Travels of Swedish Popular Education............................................147 8.1 The Materialistic Side of the Projects ..................................................................148 8.2 Networks, Encouragement and Learning from Experience..................................149 8.3 NFA and the Baltic States ...................................................................................153 8.4 Pedagogics, Methods and Idea(l)s......................................................................156 8.4.1 Equality, Democracy and the Social Function of Popular Education ...........157 8.4.2 Organizational Democracy..........................................................................162 8.4.3 Form Versus Content and Historical Legacies ............................................165 8.5 Concluding Remarks...........................................................................................171 9. Editing Swedish Popular Education? ......................................................175 9.1 Translation in Transnational Cooperation............................................................175 9.2 Organizational Differences and Similarities.........................................................181 9.2.1 Identification and Ideological Connections ..................................................182 9.2.2 “Drop-Outs” and Organizational Development ............................................186 9.3 Flexibility and Asymmetry in Transnational Cooperation .....................................190 9.4 Concluding Remarks...........................................................................................198 10. Institutionalizing the Lessons Learned..................................................201 10.1 Continued Transnational Cooperation...............................................................201 10.2 Reciprocity in the Cooperation between ABF and AHL? ...................................210 10.3 Future Prospects of AHL...................................................................................214 11. Conclusions...........................................................................................217 11.1 Returning to the Questions................................................................................217 11.2 Theoretical Implications and Avenues for Future Research ..............................228 References..................................................................................................233 Acknowledgements The journey from starting my dissertation project to the book that is now in your hands has been a winding one. Along the way many people have influenced and assisted me and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all. First of all, my thanks go to my supervisor Anders Uhlin at Lund University. I have been fortunate to have a supervisor who has always been available and brought input and critical reflections while at the same time encouraging the independence of my work. Anders, I am forever grateful for your time, effort, sharp intellect and kindness. Valuable input has also been received continuously from my other two supervisors, Karl Magnus Johansson (Södertörn University College) and Ulrika Mörth (Stockholm University). I am also indebted to the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies for financially supporting my research. This study could not have been completed without the kind assistance of the people from the organizations that have been studied. Both the staff at the Olof Palme International Center who made themselves, their material and their databases available to me and the people from Swedish and Estonian organizations who gave their time and knowledge deserve more thanks than I can give here. They are the main characters in the story told in this book; thus I hope that the dissertation itself can be a reward. Many people have been important in moving the work forward as well as making the experience enjoyable. I am grateful