To Örebro University

The role of ‘fair’ institutions in developing democratic legitimacy has received increased attention. Citizens who perceive – on basis of past experiences – that they are being treated fairly by authorities have been held to have greater trust in political institutions. However, previous studies on the relationship between procedural fairness and political trust have not paid sufficient attention to individuals with limited first-hand experiences of authorities. We examine the relationship on an authority that virtually all individuals meet early in life: the school. Using structural equation modeling on unique panel data covering 1,500 Swedish adolescents (ages ranging from 13 to 17), we find a reciprocal relationship: personal encounters with school authorities shape young people’s political trust; however, the images that adolescents get of the political system (through family, peers, media, etc.) have also consequences on their perceptions about the authorities they encounter in their daily lives. The analysis increases our understanding of how individuals form their political allegiances by showing that the relationship between fairness and trust is more dynamic than has previously been suggested: neither an accumulated set of experiences of authorities nor formal ties with political institutions (as voters, etc.) are required for a relationship to emerge. 

The current debate on political participation is bound to a discussion about whether citizens are active or passive. This dichotomous notion is nurtured by an extensive normative debate concerning whether passivity is an asset or a threat to democracy; and it is especially manifest in studies of young people's political orientations. Drawing on this discussion, the present study goes beyond the dichotomy by keeping political interest conceptually separate from participation in order to improve our understanding of political passivity. Multivariate cluster analysis of empirical data on Swedish youth suggests that we need to consider three distinctive forms of 'political passivity'. In the paper we present empirical evidence not only of the existence of a particular 'standby citizen', but also of two kinds of genuinely passive young people: unengaged and disillusioned citizens. Alongside active citizens, these people are in distinctly different categories with regard to their political behavior. This entails a new analytical framework that may be used to analyze an empirical phenomenon that has received surprisingly little attention in the literature on political participation and civic engagement.

Reviewing the literature on political participation and civic engagement, the articleoffers a critical examination of different conceptual frameworks. Drawing on previousdefinitions and operationalisations, a new typology for political participation and civicengagement is developed, highlighting the multidimensionality of both concepts. Inparticular, it makes a clear distinction between manifest 'political participation'(including formal political behaviour as well as protest or extra-parliamentary politicalaction) and less direct or 'latent' forms of participation, conceptualized here as 'civicengagement' and 'social involvement'. The article argues that the notion of 'latent'forms of participation is crucial to understand new forms of political behaviour and theprospects for political participation in different countries. Due to these innovations itcontributes to a much-needed theoretical development within the literature on politicalparticipation and citizen engagement.

Comparing eight post-communist semi-presidential systems (Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia), comprising a total of 65 instances of intra-executive coexistence between 1991 and 2007, this article asks to what extent and in what ways president–cabinet conflicts increase the risk of pre-term termination of governments. Previous studies of intra-executive conflicts in semi-presidential regimes have mainly been occupied with explaining why conflicts occur in the first place, and neglected the question of how such conflicts are actually related to political outcomes. The present empirical investigation demonstrates that the occurrence of intra-executive conflict in transitional semi-presidential systems is likely to produce high rates of cabinet turnover.

Villkoren för skolans demokratiuppdrag har förändrats. Det offentliga huvudmannaskapet har utsatts konkurrens från privata initiativ och en ökad kulturell mångfald har konfronterat skolan med nya utmaningar.

Vad betyder detta för skolans möjligheter att bidra med demokratisk utveckling hos skoleleverna?

I den här forskarantologin presenteras en fördjupad analys av svenska elev-, lärar- och skoldata från den internationella utvärderingen ICCS 2009. Rapporten innehåller beskrivande analyser av förutsättningarna för skolor och lärare att hantera kontroverser och av vad eleverna har för medborgarkompetens.

Avslutningsvis görs även preliminära försök att förklara de mönster som präglar svenska elever, lärare och skolor när det gäller medborgarkompetens.