DOCSLIB.ORG

Undoing Homogeneity in the Nordic Region; Migration, Difference, and the Politics of Solidarity; First Edition

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Undoing Homogeneity in the Nordic Region; Migration, Difference, and the Politics of Solidarity; First Edition 9 From welfare to warfare Exploring the militarisation of the Swedish suburb Suruchi Thapar-Björkert, Irene Molina and Karina Raña Villacura It is not my most immediate measure to send in the military, but I’m prepared to do what it takes to ensure that serious organised crime goes away. (Stefan Löfven, Swedish Prime Minister, to TT News Agency [Jakobson 2018]) Introduction The 2013 ‘suburban riots’ which were triggered by the police (SWAT) shooting of Lenine Relvas-Martins, a 69-year-old man in the Stockholm suburb of Husby, brought debates on social polarisation, segregation, and gentrification to centre stage, as well as highlighting the role of state functionaries in contributing to vio- lence. In the debates that followed, it became evident that the suburban areas of the Million Programme (including Husby) were specifically framed as an “anti-social and uncivilised [criminal] spatiality” (Ericsson et al. 2000, pp. 28, 29), and its resi- dents as “violent political subjects” (de los Reyes 2016, pp. 164, 166). In fact, these areas were stigmatised from the moment the new housing development programme was launched by the Social Democrats at the beginning of the sixties, as a key project within the Swedish welfare state model. While the aim was to construct one million dwellings nationwide, located mostly in the Swedish cities’ periphery, the sixties’ fear of modern urbanism in Sweden (Molina 1997) accelerated the raciali- sation of these areas by the media, framing them as non-Swedish, less civilized, and more dangerous than other urban neighbourhoods (Ericsson et al. 2000). A 2014 police report—‘A national overview of criminal networks that have a major impact within local communities’ (Rikskriminalpolisen 2014)—put forward the Swedish police’s identification of 55 areas (all part of the Million Programme) in which they considered local criminal networks to have a major negative impact on local spaces and communities. The report—which is devoid of any local perspectives—frames the suburbs through representa- tions of criminality and vulnerability. There is also an unexplained assertion of the existence of “parallel” societies with associated implications of self- segregation, isolationism, and failing citizens (Grundström and Molina 2016; also see Rikskriminalpolisen 2015). A 2015 follow-up report called ‘Vulner- able areas—social risks, collective ability and undesired events’, emphasises criminal vulnerability (associated mainly with violence and open drug 142 Thapar-Björkert, Molina, and Villacura dealings) and “criminal energy” (2015, p. 21), suggesting it be managed by a “high police presence” and “hotspot patrolling” in selected areas (Rikskrimi- nalpolisen 2015, p. 23)1. Associating these “vulnerable” areas (Rikskriminalpolisen 2015) with being controlled by criminals, and as spaces in which law and order needs to be re-established, becomes a “rallying slogan based on a fantasy of danger as well as reconquest, the image of danger magnifying the courage of those who face it, and that of reconquest justifying the action aimed at realizing it” (Fassin 2013, p. 37). In this regard, such a fantasy is propelled by the role assigned to disciplinary authorities (police, penal system, intelligence) as legitimate interpreters of social reality, and which has—in the post Keynesian global era—led to the “upsizing” of the penal sector at the cost of “downsizing” of the welfare sector (Wacquant 2009, p. 3). Furthermore, several government initiatives (in close collaboration with local councils, real-estate establishments, the District Administration Office (Stadsdelsförvaltingen), and the police) have been foregrounded in the Järva region, in the North West of Stockholm;2 a) installation of a “sound scare” system (SVT 25 November, 2016), initially in two of the neighbourhoods in the Järva region (Tensta and Husby), arguably to keep drug dealers at bay; b) the potential creation of “zones of frisking” (Tronarp 2017); c) strengthening surveillance through microphones and body cameras (Stockholm Direkt 2017); and d) bolstering the presence of police numbers with private security guards patrolling the region (Rin- keby-Kista Stadsdelsförvaltning 2017). These proposals are closely rela- ted to similar developments in other Nordic countries, for example, the recent 2017 decision made by the Danish government on the deployment of military forces to patrol borders and special places such as synagogues (Bülow 2017), in order to release police forces to combat gangs and organised crime in the cities (Rasmusson 2017). In this chapter, we argue that the suburban landscape is steadily being shaped through a shift in political discourse—from welfare to warfare—lead- ing to a steady militarisation of the suburbs. A central theme that governs this process is the monitoring and management of ‘problem’ ethnic collectives and urban peripheries that adhere to an “alternate social order” through dis- ciplinary regimes, and different forms of (im)mobilisation such as racial, ethnic, and religious profiling; identity controls; and draconian immigration laws (see Polisen 2017). Thus, processes of militarisation operate in tandem with practices and processes of securitisation, which entails the “production of security and security-related technologies and assemblages at various [socio-spatial] scales” (Low 2017, p. 367; Gluck and Low 2017). We extend this idea to argue that these modalities of security/insecurity in racialised residential areas inadvertently create a culture of impunity,3 which can be analysed through the lens of structural violence. Structural violence is ren- dered invisible as it is “perceived” as the status quo, but “experienced” (see Militarisation of the Swedish suburb 143 Price 2012) as stigmatisation; assaults on dignity and integrity; and the steady erosion of individual agency. Our arguments draw on in-depth interviews conducted during four months of intensive qualitative fieldwork in the Järva region in Stockholm, in 2018, by co- author Karina Raña Villacura. The respondents were identified through the snowball method, initiated through our contact with Husby Träff, a civil society organisation. We also accessed several other networks, which enabled us to have a more heterogeneous selection of respondents. The key actors were six official representatives from local authorities: the local housing company (1), the Police (3), the municipal Library (1), and the local administration office (1); five mem- bers of civil society organisations (Forörten I Centrum, Husby Träff,Rädda Barnen, Förorten mot Våld, Reactor); and 13 local residents. The interviews were taped, transcribed, and codified with the aid of the Atlas.ti software. The interviews were coded in relation to the main theoretical aims of the project, and its subsequent interview questionnaire. The main themes emerged from an ana- lysis of the interview data through a “grounded theory approach” (Strauss and Corbin 1999). To maintain anonymity, our respondents have been coded as: O– from an Organisation, L–local resident, and AO–Authorities/Officials working in the suburbs. Working in the field presented some methodological challenges, due to the current climate of fear and suspicion, which has been shaped through ongoing processes of racialisation and objectification (Patel 2012; De Leeuw, Cameron and Greenwood 2012). The interview material was analysed together with a total of ten articles in broadsheet and local newspapers,4 and seven official reports. Using interpretive content analysis, we identified both the “latent” (implicit) and “manifest” (literal) meanings in the texts (Krippendorff 2013). In addition, field notes were kept—these observations, experiences, and conversa- tions further informed our qualitative enquiry. They served to describe situations and make sense of them during the analysis stage. Globalisation of urban militarisation Scholars’ interest in the general relationship between militarism and welfare can be traced to the 1920s and 1930s, when the warfare industry was a central source of income for the national economy of the United States (Eisner 2000). Wehrle (2003) writes on the same matter, indicating that warfare more or less financed welfare, but as Gilmore (1998) notes, pressures from the capitalist class to minimise their contribution to social expenditures and welfare through taxes, marked the final shift at the end of the sixties: “With dimin- ishing options for a social Keynesian spending program, the mainstream of organized labor embraced military Keynesianism” (Wehrle 2003, p. 527). Gilmore (2007, p. 78) refers to the political–economic changes of the Amer- ican Keynesian state as a shift from the Keynesian “workfare”5 state to the Keynesian militarised “warfare” state. In the case of the US at that time, we have observed a circular sequence of transformations, from warfare to wel- fare, and back to warfare. This sequence of transformations seems to be 144 Thapar-Björkert, Molina, and Villacura applicable to the Swedish context, though from a different perspective. In Sweden, the military industry has supported a welfare system that was for- tified after the Second World War, through generating an income for the national Treasury (Glimell 2012); in other words, welfare provision has been sustained by warfare. In spite of the obvious differences between the two countries, these examples from the US and Sweden reveal that the relation- ship between welfare and militarism can transform and shift in different manners at different points in time, which reinforces Gilmore’s
Load more

Recommended publications
  • EXPOSED Living with Scandal, Rumour, and Gossip
    EXPOSED Living with scandal, rumour, and gossip L /� MIA-MARIE HAMMARLIN EXPOSED Living with scandal, rumour, and gossip Exposed Living with scandal, rumour, and gossip MIA-MARIE HAMMARLIN Lund University Press Copyright © Mia-Marie Hammarlin 2019 The right of Mia-Marie Hammarlin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Lund University Press The Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology P.O. Box 117 SE-221 00 LUND Sweden http://lunduniversitypress.lu.se Lund University Press books are published in collaboration with Manchester University Press. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library An earlier version of this book appeared in Swedish, published by Hammarlin Bokförlag in 2015 as I stormens öga ISBN 978-91-9793-812-9 ISBN 978-91-983768-3-8 hardback ISBN 978-91-983768-4-5 open access First published 2019 An electronic version of this book is also available under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, thanks to the support of Lund University, which permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction provided the author(s) and Manchester University Press are fully cited and no modifications or adaptations are made. Details of the licence can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
    [Show full text]
  • W-22 Ingrid Sahlin.Pdf
    Who's homeless and whose homeless? Sahlin, Ingrid 2017 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Sahlin, I. (2017). Who's homeless and whose homeless?. Paper presented at European Network for Housing Research, Tirana, Albania. Total number of authors: 1 General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Read more about Creative commons licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 ENHR Tirana Sept. 4–6, 2017 (W-22) WHO’S HOMELESS AND WHOSE HOMELESS? Ingrid Sahlin School of Social Work, Lund University (Sweden) [email protected] Abstract This paper discusses what the persistent construction of ‘the homeless’ and the revitalized term ‘our homeless’ include, imply, and exclude, respectively. Departing from Simmel’s essay ‘The poor’, in which the poor is defined as the stratum that gets (or would get) public assistance, I claim that “the homeless” comprise only those to whom the society, municipalities and charities acknowledge a responsibility to give shelter.
    [Show full text]
  • Norrland and Sustainable Development As Envisioned by the Ecological Modernization and Environmental Justice Discourses
    Master thesis in Sustainable Development 2019/2 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Sustained Asymmetries: Norrland and sustainable development as envisioned by the ecological modernization and environmental justice discourses Lisa Diehl DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER Master thesis in Sustainable Development 2019/2 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Sustained Asymmetries: Norrland and sustainable development as envisioned by the ecological modernization and environmental justice discourses Lisa Diehl Supervisors: Annika Egan Sjölander Evaluator: Madeleine Eriksson Copyright © Lisa Diehl. Published at Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University (www.geo.uu.se), Uppsala, 2019. Contents 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Aim and research questions 3 2. Methods 4 2.1. Quantitative content analysis 4 2.2. Discourse analysis 4 2.2.1. Critical discourse analysis 5 2.3. Criticism and limitations 5 2.4. Material and selection 6 3. Theoretical framework 9 3.1. Discourse analysis and theoretical implications 9 3.2. Core-Periphery framework 9 3.3. Dependence theory 11 3.4. Sustainable development 12 3.4.1. Ecological modernization 12 3.4.2. Environmental justice 13 3.5. Previous research 13 3.5.1. Norrland in political rhetoric 13 3.5.2. Rural areas and environmental change 14 4. Results and analysis 15 4.1. In-depth analysis of land-use based industries 19 4.1.1. Norrland in general 19 4.1.2. Wind power 19 4.1.3. Forestry 21 4.1.4. Mining 22 4.1.5. Tourism 24 4.1.6. Reindeer husbandry 25 4.1.7. Hydropower 27 5. Discussion 28 5.1. Norrland and ecological modernization 28 5.2.
    [Show full text]
  • Swedens-Geopolitical-Case-Against
    SWEDEN’S GEOPOLITICAL CASE AGAINST ASSANGE 2010-2019 By Prof. Marcello Ferrada de Noli. Published by Libertarian Books - Sweden. December 2019. Edition updated 11 January 2020. ISBN 978-91-88747-13-6 online edition ISBN 978-91-88747-14-3 paperback edition Cover: Artwork by Arte de Noli (Bergamo, Italy), using a background photo, unidentified author, downloaded in the Internet. Previously reproduced in the Indicter Magazine. @ 2019 Marcello Ferrada de Noli @ 2019 Libertarian Books – Sweden SWEDEN’S GEOPOLITICAL CASE AGAINST ASSANGE 2010-2019 By Marcello Ferrada de Noli LIBERTARIAN BOOKS – Sweden Science, Culture, & Human Rights Libertarianbooks.eu Author’s note: Although this book refers to events of the case arisen 2010-2019, a main coverage of the episodes 2010-2014 is given in my previous book SWEDEN VS. ASSANGE. HUMAN RIGTS ISSUES. (PDF and paperback, 342 pages): Alternative download links for the above book (PDF, 11.2 MB): Libertarianbooks.eu L’Essistenza Sweden’s Geopolitical Case Against Assange 2010-2019 – Marcello Ferrada de Noli CONTENTS FOREWORD ......................................................................................................... 11 INTRODUCTION. SWEDISH GEOPOLITICS AND THE ASSANGE CASE. ........ 17 Summary ..................................................................................................... 18 The real case against Assange .................................................................... 22 Why Sweden? .............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Sweden Manual
    Communicating Europe: Sweden Manual Information and contacts on the Swedish debate on EU enlargement in the Western Balkans Supported by the Strategic Programme Fund of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office 2 Communicating Europe: Sweden Manual ABOUT THIS MANUAL Who shapes the debate on the future of EU enlargement in Sweden today as the country takes over the EU Presidency in July 2009? This manual aims to provide an overview by introducing the key people and key institutions. It starts with a summary of core facts about Sweden. It looks at the packed timetable of the Swedish EU Presidency and the many issues on its agenda – including EU enlargement and visa liberalisation for the Western Balkan states. As background to one of the most intensive EU presidencies in recent years the manual describes the Swedish scene; the most important interest groups, the key government institutions, the current government, parliament and the main political parties and the key think-tanks. It looks at the country‟s mix of economic liberalism and welfare policies. It offers an overview of the policy debates on the EU, on future enlargement and the Western Balkans. Space is also given to the media landscape; TV, radio and print media and the internet-based media. As the British academic Timothy Garton Ash has recently written: “Talking here to a leading figure in the upcoming Swedish presidency of the EU, one understands what a hectic circus it will be in the last few months of 2009.” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has commented on the government‟s intensive presidency planning: “Sometimes things turn out like the John Lennon song: „Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans‟.” The prime minister added: “Planning is important, but things seldom turn out the way you intended.” Any debate in a vibrant democracy is characterised by a range of views.
    [Show full text]
  • Jakob Löndahl
    List of publications, Jakob Löndahl Four children aged 4-12 yrs. Parental leave for in total more than three years during 2007-2020. Summary: 51 accepted peer-reviewed original articles in international scientific journals (8 as first author, 14 as last), 157 peer-reviewed abstracts at international conferences, 5 chapters in books or reports, 1 accepted patent, 8 comprehensive computer programs (LabVIEW), >40 popular science articles both nationally and internationally, blog writer about science for Forskning&Framsteg. In total 77 talks: 35 invited research talks at conferences and meetings, 12 invited popular science talks, 25 oral presentations at international scientific conferences and 6 times invited as lecturer on PhD courses outside Sweden. ORCID: 0000-0001-9379-592X Author identifier: B-8217-2014 (Londahl, J) Doctoral Thesis, Löndahl, J., 2009. Experimental Determination of the Deposition of Aerosol Particles in the Human Respiratory Tract. Lund University. ISBN 978-91-628-7702-6 Licentiate dissertation, Löndahl, J. 2006. Health-related aerosol particle studies – respiratory tract deposition and indoor source identification. Doc: LUTFD2/(TFKF-3099)/1-35/2006 Peer-reviewed articles in international journals 51) Alsved, M., Widell, A., Dahlin, H., Karlson, S., Medstrand, P., Löndahl, J. (2020), “Aerosolization and Recovery of Viable Murine Norovirus in an Experimental Setup”, accepted for publication in Scientific Reports 50) Alsved, M., Matamis, A., Bohlin, R., Richter, M., Bengtsson, P-E, Fraenkel, C-J, Medstrand, P., Löndahl, J., (2020), “Exhaled respiratory particles during singing and talking”, accepted for publication in Aerosol Science and Technology 49) Hussein, T., Alameer, A., Jaghbeir, O., Albeitshaweesh, K., Malkawi, M., Boor, B.E., Koivisto, A.J., Löndahl, J., Alrifai, O., Al-Hunaiti, A., (2020) “Indoor Particulate Matter and Gaseous Pollutant Exposure levels inside Middle Eastern Microenvironments”, Atmosphere, 11:41 48) Alsved, M., Bourouiba, L., Duchaine, C., Löndahl, J., Marr, L.C., Parker, S.T., Prussin II, A.J., Thomas, R.J.
    [Show full text]
  • Box Paradox: How Key Account Management Contributes to Business Model Innovation
    Box Paradox Box Paradox Box Paradox Key Account Management is the way a firm handles its largest and How Key Account Management Contributes most important customers. Significant resources are dedicated to to Business Model Innovation accomplish both short-term sales objectives and strategic long-term goals. KAM is increasingly strategic, not least because the sales and selling activities are becoming digitalized and automatized. A par- ticularly important dimension of KAM concerns how the firm de- velops long-term customer relationships. However, the truly strategic part of KAM is about innovation, and this dissertation explains how Ebba Laurin business model innovation emerges in key customer relationships. This dissertation presents in-depth case studies in the fields of mili- tary training, editorial outsourcing, and large events. It conceptu- alizes KAM principles and examines the strategic contribution of KAM to business model innovation. The findings show that cus- tomer co-created proof of concept projects and processes of trial and error may be used to test emerging business model innovations. The dissertation introduces the Customer Engagement Model as a result of the research. The model assists in analyzing three KAM processes in which people are central. They are KAM Creating, KAM Disrupting and KAM Anchoring, and they function in rela- tion to customer engagement. Ebba Laurin is a teacher at Stockholm School of Economics and a researcher at SSE Institute for Research. She has pre- viously been an executive at Ericsson and a consultant Ebba Laurin for over 10 years. She advices entrepreneurs, execu- tives and management teams on strategic customer relationship and sales, leadership, innovation and or- ganizational development.
    [Show full text]
  • ISDP Annual Report 2008
    Institute for Security and Development Policy Annual Report 2008 Report for the fiscal period January-December 2008 The Institute for Security and Development Policy is a Stockholm based independent and non-profit research and policy institute. The Institute is dedicated to expanding understand- ing of international affairs, particularly the interrelationship between conflict, security, and de- velopment. The Institute’s primary areas of geographic focus are Asia and Europe’s neighbor- hood. Research ranges from short research projects involving a sole researcher to larger, multi-year cooperative endeavors involving numerous researchers and institutions. This re- search is undertaken mainly at the Institute's offices. The Institute incorporates the Asia Pro- gram and the Silk Road Studies Program. The latter constitutes, since 2005, a Joint Center with the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, Johns Hopkins University-SAIS. ISDP often receives guest researchers at its office in Stockholm. With funding either from the Institute itself or from collaborating institutions or sponsors, such visitors carry out research which leads to monographs, articles, policy papers, or presentations in various media. Scholars stay for periods ranging from a few weeks to a year or more. Since the founding of ISDP, the Institute has hosted close to 60 Fellows and guest scholars. These have come from across Europe, Asia, and North America, as well as from many of the countries that the Insti- tute focuses on. Among their number have been former and future ministers, heads of insti- tutes of strategic studies, academics, NGO representatives, ambassadors, military experts, and senior parliamentary staffers. In fields formerly dominated by men, women have been promi- nent among scholars at the Institute.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital News Innovation Fund Impact Report Contents
    Digital News Innovation Fund Impact Report Contents Introduction 03 Report by numbers 04 Boosting Digital Revenues 08 Telling Local Stories 16 Battling Misinformation 19 Exploring New Technologies 21 DNI FUND IMPACT REPORT | 2 Introduction The only real, substantive guarantee It has laid the groundwork for the implementation of the independence of news media – of new business models and structures along the entire value chain – from content workflow which is critical for the well-being of processing, to digital distribution, to go-to- pluralist democracies – is their own market strategy for new news products and economic success, not government monetisation. Concepts such as user-generated subsidies or gifts from wealthy donors: content, audience development, real-time you never know when either one analytics, robot journalism and propensity-to- might run out. buy modelling have become part of everyday work in most media organisations. The DNI The offline news business, first print, then Fund was also able to stimulate networks the news wires, radio, then TV, had been a among publishers and tech companies. century-long success story. But over the past 20 years, many traditional news media have News will remain a tough business, but in suffered significant revenue and profit declines. Europe we are now well on our way to building Employment has become less plentiful, and business models which will be sustainable, sometimes precarious. hopefully facilitating the transformation of many revered legacy organisations – and also help a As a result, media companies are changing number of startups to develop their niches. how they do things. Which media company had research & development (R&D) units at the Thus, the DNI Fund has been time, effort, and beginning of this millennium, working on the $150 million well directed.
    [Show full text]
  • European Defense June 2014
    EUROPEAN DEFENSE, THE ARCTIC AND THE FUTURE 2 Second Line of Defense Special Report 2014 I n European Defense, the Arctic and the Future In this Special Report, Second Line of Defense looks at the evolving defense and security situation in the Baltics and in the Arctic. Russian actions in Crimea have returned direct defense to the European agenda, a fact not missed by the Northern European powers and the Baltic states. This report is divided into three parts. The first part is based on interviews conducted in Denmark in May 2014 and provides Danish perspectives on the evolving defense and security situation in their neighborhood. The second part examines how the Crimean crisis is affecting broader global relations, and the direct defense of Europe, in particular. The third part then focuses upon the Arctic opening and ways the developmental, safety and security dimensions intersect with Arctic defense. Russian map making is having its impact on Northern Europe. This report focuses on some aspects of that impact. Second Line of Defense June 2014 Page 1 European Defense, the Arctic and the Future European Defense, the Arctic and the Future DANISH PERSPECTIVES PART ONE: DANISH PERSPECTIVES ON THE BALTICS AND THE ARCTIC: POST CRIMEA 3 ADMIRAL WANG ON BALTIC AND ARCTIC DEFENSE 3 THE RETURN OF DIRECT DEFENSE IN EUROPE: THE HEAD OF NATO FOCUSES ON THE CHALLENGE 7 THE NORDICS AND BALTIC AND ARCTIC DEFENSE: A DISCUSSION WITH THE HEAD OF RISK INTELLIGENCE 9 PERSPECTIVES ON SWEDEN AND THE RUSSIAN FACTOR 14 REAR ADMIRAL (RETIRED) HENRIK KUDSK ON
    [Show full text]
  • Searching for a Homeless Strategy in Sweden Ingrid Sahlin
    Part B _ Strategy Review 161 Searching for a Homeless Strategy in Sweden Ingrid Sahlin School of Social Work, Lund University, Sweden >> Abstract_ The aim of this article is to critically review the Swedish Government’s Strategy against Homelessness and Housing Exclusion, opera- tional between 2007 and 2009. This is done through, first, a discussion on the functions of national action plans in general and a brief comparison with homeless strategies in other Nordic Countries. Secondly, the Swedish strategy is presented and put in a context of other government initiatives against home- lessness since the early 1990s. These are then compared to a previous, comprehensive housing policy between 1947 and 1990. The recent state initia- tives against homelessness and the previous housing policy differ not so much in their explicit ambitions to combat housing exclusion, but rather in the rela- tionship between such words and ideas and the governments’ actions. Nils Brunsson’s theory on political hypocrisy as a way to handle contradictions between actions and ideas, and to understand the difference between decisions and actions is then presented. In testing this theory, government actions and decisions of relevance for housing access and housing exclusion in 2007 are reviewed. Most of these decisions implied increased difficulties for homeless people to access housing. Hence, the main conclusion is that in 2007, the Swedish government launched a strategy that it probably never intended to follow up with actions. Rather, its main function may have been to divert public attention from an implicit strategy, the realisation of which implied more market-oriented public housing, higher rents, withdrawn building subven- tions and massive subsidies to home-owners.
    [Show full text]
  • The Third Conference on Innovation Journalism: Proceedings
    VOL.3 NO.4 * MAY 29 2006 * ISSN 1549-9049 www.innovationjournalism.org THE THIRD CONFERENCE ON INNOVATION JOURNALISM PROCEEDINGS Tresidder Union Wallenberg Hall © ROBERT EMERY SMITH STANFORD UNIVERSITY APRIL 5-7 2006 THE THIRD CONFERENCE ON INNOVATION JOURNALISM PROCEEDINGS APRIL 5-7 2006 David Nordfors, Publisher and Editor John Joss, Editor Turo Uskali, Editor Alisa Weinstein, Editor CONFERENCE COMMITTEE Executive Committee David Nordfors, Conference Co-Chair, Innovation Journalism Program Leader, Sr. Research Scholar, SCIL, Stanford University; Special Adviser to the Director General, VINNOVA, Sweden. nordfors @ stanford.edu, +1-650-804-5184 Annette Eldredge, Conference Coordinator, SCIL, Stanford University, U.S. Eldredge @ stanford.edu, +1-650-724-6483 Melinda Sacks, Conference Press Contact, Director of Communications, SCIL, U.S. msacks @ stanford.edu, +1-650-924-0139 General Committee Stig Hagström, Conference Co-Chair, Co-Director, SCIL, Professor, Stanford University, U.S. Peter Svensson, Visiting Researcher - Innovation Communication Turo Uskali, Visiting Scholar - Innovation Journalism Alisa Weinstein, Associate Editor, Innovation Journalism, www.innovationjournalism.org Adress: Wallenberg Hall, Stanford University. 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 95305, U.S. Conference Blog Jan Sandred http://innovationjournalism.blogspot.com/ 3 CONTENTS 1. Foreword 7 Curtis Carlson 2. Opening Address 9 David Nordfors 3. Keynote Address: How the Internet is Changing the Concept of Journalism 11 Vinton G. Cerf 4. Innovation Journalism Teamwork: How and why? 15 Erika Ingvald 5. Innovative Journalism as a Basis for Innovation Journalism 27 Amanda Termén 6. How to Write About the Future 41 Jyrki Alkio 7. The Role of Innovation Journalism in Business Journalism 59 Erik Amcoff 8. How to Integrate Innovation Journalism into Traditional Journalism 69 Eva Barkeman 9.
    [Show full text]