Crisis Accountability: Ministerial Resignations in Sweden

Accountability processes after crisis events sometimes entail harsh criticism from public and political players alike, forcing cabinet ministers to be on top of the political game and sometimes even resign. However, harsh accountability processes are just as likely to leave ministers undamaged. This article combines two existing theories that propose different factors to account for variation in outcomes: ministerial resignations as a consequence of cabinet formation and individual positions; or resignations as a result of blame management strategies involving individual actors within the cabinet and beyond. Ten crisis episodes in Sweden are analysed and compared. The findings suggest that individual political power bases and experience matter to how well blame management strategies can be employed, while the composition of the government gives structural constraints. The dynamic interplay and framing battle between incumbent decision makers, and external arenas and the skill with which individual ministers engage and frame responsibility, play a key role in determining their post‐crisis careers.     

Mentally challenged patients in a forensic hospital: a feasibility study concerning the executive functions of forensic patients with organic brain disorder, learning disability, or mental retardation

The past years have seen an increasing number of patients of lower intelligence or with organic brain disorder being committed into our forensic psychiatry. Our clinic has an ongoing scientific project to investigate the possibilities of reducing costs while at the same time guaranteeing adequate treatment and enforcement practice in forensic hospitals. This current project did not take these kinds of patients into consideration initially. This feasibility study is intended to examine if and to what extent these patients can be part of the scientific project. All patients of forensic psychiatry in Rostock (Mecklenburg-Western-Pomerania) with an IQ<80 (learning disorder) or a primary or secondary organic brain dysfunction that have been committed to the clinic since 2009 are included. These patients went through an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Furthermore, the treating psychotherapists had to rate the prognoses for criminal re-offending at discharge. Patients affected by lower intelligence or an organic brain dysfunction achieve lower results in neuropsychological testing than other patients participating in the main project. Nevertheless, participation in neuropsychological testing does not appear to overtax them. Future examination of the patients will be conducted to investigate to what extent certain therapeutic methods have been of noticeable benefit to this problematic group.     

Partisanship and Political Sophistication During and Outside of Election Times: A Longitudinal Analysis Using the German SOEP Survey 1984–2012

In many established democracies, partisan attachments play a central role in guiding citizens’ attitudes as well as their political behaviour. Most importantly, partisanship has an effect on what party citizens vote for on Election Day. In general, highly politically sophisticated citizens are more likely to identify with a party compared to the less politically sophisticated. This article argues that the strength of an individual’s partisan attachment varies considerably over time. More specifically, it finds that party attachments are stronger when Election Day is close. The less politically sophisticated in particular benefit from such an effect and develop stronger attachments at election times.     

The emerging EU peacebuilding framework: confirming or transcending liberal peacebuilding?

The European Union (EU) is now emerging as a major actor in regional and global peacebuilding. Yet its peacebuilding approach and practices are subject to some significant and familiar contradictions. In this article, we identify the basis for what may become an ‘EU peacebuilding framework’ (EUPF), and argue that, while it aspires to a ‘just and durable peace’ including practical tools and a normative framework, these need to be set in critical relief. The EU's nascent approach to building peace is compared and contrasted with the evolving liberal peacebuilding consensus and the much criticized statebuilding project which has recently emerged. This is evaluated against recent research focusing on developing a more sophisticated form of contextually relevant peacebuilding. Finally, we assess how the embryonic EUPF might contribute to the development of a just and durable peace, and ask what sorts of issues and dimensions this raises.     

Transfer of academic research: uncovering the grey zone

In this study, we respond to calls for further investigation on why and how scientists choose to commercialize their research. Mowery (University entrepreneurship and technology transfer: process design, and intellectual property, Elsevier, Oxford 2005), in his criticism of the US-system, emphasizes the need for multiple channels between university and industry. His argument makes the case of Sweden interesting, where the researchers own the intellectual property of their research. Sweden thus constitutes a unique case where data can be found on which choices researchers make in a setting where a variety of channels for transfer are available. Our empirical data, collected through case studies, allowed for the expansion of the typology for mechanisms for transfer of academic research as well as the development of a typology for determinants for researchers’ choice to engage in transfer of research. Apart from those contributions to the theoretic discussion, the data also provided policy implications.     

Generalizability of a two-factor measure of young children's suggestibility in Norway and the USA

Abstract

We discuss the development of the Book Suggestibility Scale for Children (BSSC), a two-factor suggestibility measure developed as an alternative to the Video Suggestibility Scale for Children (VSSC; Scullin & Ceci, Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 843–856, 2001). In study 1, both the BSSC and the VSSC were administered to 60 American preschool children. Children responded affirmatively to inaccurate leading questions (Yield) and changed their answers in response to negative feedback from interviewers (Shift) in a similar manner on both scales. In study 2 we found that the BSSC was useful for studies of suggestibility in contexts other than America because 62 Norwegian preschool children responded to questions in a similar manner to an age-range and vocabulary matched group of 31 American children. Results support a two-factor model of suggestibility, although Yield appears to measure suggestibility across scales and situations more consistently than does Shift. American age-matched samples had significantly higher Shift and Yield 2 scores than the Norwegian sample.