The question of this thesis is whether the individual can resolve the problem of culture crisis in her own case. Culture crisis is a historical moment in which our culture leads us to expect a world drastically different from the one in which we find ourselves. This thesis will focus on the experience of Generation Y in the fall-out of the 2008 Recession. It will be argued that we need a Wittgensteinian view of language in order to account for the phenomenon of culture crisis. It will be suggested that our individual has to be a Nietzschean individual in order to resolve the problem of culture crisis in her own case. Potential incompatibilities between a Wittgensteinian view of language and the Nietzschean individual will be considered and rejected. It will be concluded that in order to resolve the problem of culture crisis in her own case the individual must change the way she lives.

<p>This study investigates how different kinds of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), operating in different national political contexts, perceive and use the Internet as a political space. The political space concept, as defined here, encompasses two dimensions of Internet use: one external, where organisations use the Internet for online activism and campaigning, and one internal, signifying organisational use of the Internet to promote engagement and interactivity with members and/or supporters. Another question raised is whether Internet use for political purposes by NGOs varies between different national political contexts. Moreover, do the organisations believe that the Internet has affected their political influence to any extent? The empirical data consist of the results of two surveys, one directed primarily to American NGOs, the other explicitly comparative, analysing NGOs in Sweden and the USA. Furthermore, content analyses of NGO websites have been conducted and additive indexes constructed. The findings of the study suggest that, overall, the Internet is most important to the studied organisations as a space for external political initiatives. There were, however, important differences in this regard, which could be related to the organisations’ national political contexts. For example, the American NGOs have oriented their websites primarily towards relatively superficial forms of member involvement, while the Swedish NGOs provided more interactive grassroots features on their websites. Regarding political influence, the Internet arguably has the potential to make the most dramatic difference by reinforcing the organisations’ offline political activities. The present results indicate that, despite the possible converging effect of the Internet on NGO political activism, national political culture exerts an inescapable influence on how the Internet is used as a political space by the studied organisations.</p>

How did the Swedish towns compare to the surrounding world during the late Middle Ages concerning town organization and political culture? Previous research has claimed a strong German influence on the Swedish town life, but in this dissertation the Europeanization is being put forward as the explanatory factor for the extensive international similarities that can be identified during the Middle Ages. The towns were part of an international town culture that was highly integrated. Differences between towns are foremost analysed as a result of different local conditions such as population size, social structure and relationship to the town lord. Since preserved sources from all towns of medieval Sweden (including Finland) have been examined in a joint study and been placed in a wider context, the dissertation presents renewed and deepened knowledge about the Swedish towns. The study includes Danish, English and German towns and thus compares regions with each other that rarely have been compared before, and thereby presents new perspectives on each respective area. The aspects of the organization that are being systematically compared are the creation of councils, the number of aldermen and mayors, the rotation of offices and functions of the town lords, bailiffs, councils, mayors and chamberlains. Regarding political culture, it is investigated how the councils expressed their group cohesiveness and power in the town and how they defined the border between themselves and the town population. Furthermore, the expectations the town populations placed on the officials and their perception of their own part in the rule of the town is being examined. Finally, the political interaction between council and town population in different towns is compared and analysed.

The dissertation deals with political culture in the Age of Liberty as it is manifested in the uprising in Dalarna in 1743. The object of the study is the political repertoire used by the peasants – a combination of utilisation of political institutions and different forms of protest such as tax boycotts and a march from Dalarna to the capital. Emphasis has been placed on the interactive aspects of the movement. Thereby, the repertoire used by central authorities to suppress the movement is equally important. Results show that the peasants formed their actions in close connection with the reactions they were met with by the authorities. Initially, the attempts to demobilise the peasants’ movement actually facilitated its mobilisation. As the peasants’ political repertoire is uncovered, it has been possible to study the movement’s mobilisation process through the use of mobilising structures, political opportunities, and interpretative processes. Hence, the significance of the uprising to the protesters is clarified. The protesters viewed their actions as part of an ongoing political debate, legitimised by the government’s neglect of its obligations towards the people, rather than as a subversive uprising. The Dalarna uprising of 1743 was an integral part of political culture in the Age of Liberty through its combined use of formal and informal political institutions and arenas. The uprising is an eloquent expression of the increasing political assertiveness among the peasantry and the peasant estate in Sweden in the eighteenth century.

The dissertation deals with political culture in the Age of Liberty as it is manifested in the uprising in Dalarna in 1743. The object of the study is the political repertoire used by the peasants – a combination of utilisation of political institutions and different forms of protest such as tax boycotts and a march from Dalarna to the capital. Emphasis has been placed on the interactive aspects of the movement. Thereby, the repertoire used by central authorities to suppress the movement is equally important. Results show that the peasants formed their actions in close connection with the reactions they were met with by the authorities. Initially, the attempts to demobilise the peasants’ movement actually facilitated its mobilisation. As the peasants’ political repertoire is uncovered, it has been possible to study the movement’s mobilisation process through the use of mobilising structures, political opportunities, and interpretative processes. Hence, the significance of the uprising to the protesters is clarified. The protesters viewed their actions as part of an ongoing political debate, legitimised by the government’s neglect of its obligations towards the people, rather than as a subversive uprising. The Dalarna uprising of 1743 was an integral part of political culture in the Age of Liberty through its combined use of formal and informal political institutions and arenas. The uprising is an eloquent expression of the increasing political assertiveness among the peasantry and the peasant estate in Sweden in the eighteenth century.

This dissertation analyses the coup d’état and the instrument of government of 1809 as an interpretative framing process. By close examination primarily of official sources it focuses on how political actors utilized the components of the existing political culture in order to legitimise their actions. The results show that the regime transition of 1809 was a contingent process. Actors competed to define concepts such as “citizen”, “patriotism” and “public opinion” in order to legitimise different political claims. This process served to strengthen the role played by the concept of public opinion as a source of authority in the language of politics. The dissertation also addresses how the regime transition of 1809 relates to the historical epoch known as the Age of Revolution. Experiences from the French Revolution in particular were crucial to the debate on the prospects for constitutional change in Sweden. The study shows that the constitutional committee took a reformist stance based on the concepts of civic virtue and enlightenment, thereby rejecting demands for an enhanced national representation. Instead they argued for gradual constitutional change and believed that the constitution should serve as an instrument to educate the public in the virtues of citizenship. Grounded in the so-called "cultural turn" taken by studies of politics in recent decades, the analysis has borrowed from studies of social movements the concepts of interpretative framing. In analyzing differences and oppositions between various interpretative frames, concepts from discourse analysis has been used, particularly those that emphasize discourse contingency. Extra-discursive conditions in the process of interpretation have been analyzed by means of the concept of possibility structures. This has chiefly involved taking into consideration the degree of repression and actors' differing access to what Bourdieu has termed "institutional authority".

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The present dissertation focuses on the appointment of clergy in the rural areas of Swedish province of Hälsingland during the period 1650-1800. The aim has been to analyse the practical process of clergy appointments as well as to discuss the development of the political culture of the said period in the way that it was reflected through the actions of the actors involved. The discussion concentrates on two aspects of the political culture, firstly on what kind of influence the parishes had in regard to the clergy appointments, secondly what the actions of the various actors in this context tell us about the local political culture. The study shows that the parishes did indeed assert their rights in connection with the clergy appointments. It is also shown that the parishes exerted a certain influence in terms of which clergyman to promote, but that this influence seems to have been limited to conditions dictated by the authorities. The clergy election reforms effected in the 1730's brought a significant change to the local political culture. Whereas the earlier legislation assumed that decisions were made unanimously, the elective reforms of the 1730's inaugurated the majority principle as election method, with the result that each voting parish member was now regarded as an independent actor. The investigation of the practice of clergy appointment in Hälsingland shows that the opinions reflected in the unanimous parish demands raised prior to the 1730's reforms primarily belonged to the most leading actors of the community. However, through the formalising of the decision-making procedure, the reforms made way for a broader participation in that process. All farm owners were entitled to vote in the clergy elections, which means that also women farm owners - primarily widows - had the right to vote. Nevertheless, as shown in the present study, the political culture was not as gender neutral as the legislation, seeing that, relatively speaking, the widows voted through proxies to a considerably larger extent than did the men. / <p>Diss. Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2003</p> / digitalisering@umu

This study investigates how different kinds of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), operating in different national political contexts, perceive and use the Internet as a political space. The political space concept, as defined here, encompasses two dimensions of Internet use: one external, where organisations use the Internet for online activism and campaigning, and one internal, signifying organisational use of the Internet to promote engagement and interactivity with members and/or supporters. Another question raised is whether Internet use for political purposes by NGOs varies between different national political contexts. Moreover, do the organisations believe that the Internet has affected their political influence to any extent? The empirical data consist of the results of two surveys, one directed primarily to American NGOs, the other explicitly comparative, analysing NGOs in Sweden and the USA. Furthermore, content analyses of NGO websites have been conducted and additive indexes constructed. The findings of the study suggest that, overall, the Internet is most important to the studied organisations as a space for external political initiatives. There were, however, important differences in this regard, which could be related to the organisations’ national political contexts. For example, the American NGOs have oriented their websites primarily towards relatively superficial forms of member involvement, while the Swedish NGOs provided more interactive grassroots features on their websites. Regarding political influence, the Internet arguably has the potential to make the most dramatic difference by reinforcing the organisations’ offline political activities. The present results indicate that, despite the possible converging effect of the Internet on NGO political activism, national political culture exerts an inescapable influence on how the Internet is used as a political space by the studied organisations.

Die Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit dem Verhältnis der französischen Politik unter Staatspräsident Jacques Chirac zur 2004 vollzogenen Osterweiterung der Europäischen Union. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von politisch-kulturellen Faktoren wird analysiert, worin für Frankreich sowohl auf der politischen als auch auf der gesellschaftlichen Ebene die Schwierigkeiten bei der Einbeziehung der Osterweiterung in das traditionelle französische Verständnis der europäischen Integration bestanden.