Public Policy and Public Administration

Unlawful influence – including threats, harassment and corruption – poses challenges to local government in Sweden. This project investigates how common such attempts are against frontline bureaucrats in municipalities and whether social ties make them more vulnerable or more resilient. By combining register data, surveys and interviews, the project generates new knowledge on how unlawful influence operates and how it can be prevented.

Principal investigator: Agnes Cornell, Associate Professor.

Financier: Forte  – Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare

For more information: Unlawful influence in Swedish municipalities: Do social ties matter for bureaucrats’ vulnerability and ability to resist? 

The project explores how the state can maintain its strength and legitimacy in a time of change. We examine the relationship between citizens and the state in Sweden and what motivates people to comply with rules and decisions voluntarily. We are particularly interested in how experiences from other countries influence trust in the state and the willingness to cooperate. Through surveys and experiments, we investigate how interactions between citizens and public officials can build trust and improve compliance. The goal is to generate new knowledge that can help public authorities strengthen confidence between the state and its citizens.

Principal investigator: Agnes Cornell, Associate Professor.

Financier: The Swedish Research Council, 2024.

For more information 

FALCON aims to counter the growing complexity of corruption activities by supporting the implementation, updating, and management of a framework for corruption intelligence. The project’s key concept is the so-called Corruption Intelligence Pictures (CIPs), which provide a comprehensive overview of specific areas of corruption.

Principal Investigator: Marina Nistotskaya, Professor.

Financier: European Commission, Horizon 2023.

For more information

Antibiotic resistance, caused by the overuse of antibiotics in healthcare and veterinary medicine, is an urgent global threat to public health. Limiting the use of antibiotics represents a classic challenge for governance through collective action.

In this project, the researchers found that politicians are most effective when they ensure that the necessary financial resources are in place to address these complex issues, but that responsibility for reducing antibiotic use should otherwise be left to experts in the field.

Principal investigator: Jon Pierre, Professor Emeritus.

Financier: The Swedish Research Council.

For more information, see the project’s webpage: Governance of collective action: The case of antibiotic policy in Europe 

The project aimed to make data from all votes in the Swedish Parliament between 1925 and 1993 accessible to the research community and the general public.

Principal investigator: Carl Dahlström, Professor.

Financier: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond

For more information

In this project, we used data from the Swedish Parliament to examine how political parties can influence the agenda in legislative assemblies. We studied (1) how party-strategic considerations shape the initial organization of the legislative process and (2) how this organization, in turn, affects the content of the proposals that eventually become law. As part of the project, we compiled a database tracing the preparation of all government bills between 1971 and 2021 and analyzed the material using statistical methods. The results shed light on the Swedish legislative process and contribute to theories of political delegation and institutional design.

Principal investigator: Carl Dahlström, Professor.

Financier: Swedish Research Council.

For more information

Organizations operating outside the state and without profit motives play an important role as watchdogs of democracy – they can hold those in power accountable, defend rights, and combat corruption. At the same time, research shows that in some younger democracies, civil society sometimes engages in exchanges where political support is traded for particular benefits. This project examines why civil society at times works for the common good and at other times becomes involved in such clientelist relationships.

Principal Investigator: Agnes Cornell, Associate Professor.

Financier: The Swedish Research Council.

For more information

Questions regarding the quality of welfare services were both important to many citizens and a frequently highlighted theme in Swedish political discourse. A parallel discussion concerned a longstanding and intense debate over how the public sector should be organized to maximize both quality and effectiveness. This project brought these questions together by focusing on the importance of institutional quality – characterized by an effective and impartial bureaucracy free from corruption – a crucial factor for human welfare according to social science research, but one that had received only limited attention in the discussion on Swedish welfare.

Principal investigator: Carl Dahlström, Professor.

Financier: Forte.

For more information