Bureaucrats in politics: a profile of the Swedish administrative elite3††

Abstract. In political systems composed of large and growing public bureaucracies, the attitudes of senior civil servants are extraordinarily significant, if little understood. This paper offers a preliminary view of the attitudes of more than 300 top-level Swedish administrators, based upon information gathered in 1971. Responses to 35 written questionnaire items suggest that upper-level Swedish bureaucrats are self-satisfied in evaluating their activities, independent in their thinking, and politically sophisticated. The same responses offer evidence of attitudes that structure the traditionally Swedish ‘art of compromise’ Intellectually, that art emphasizes particularistic thought patterns. Socially, it seems based on a pattern of limited commitment to official roles. Some implications of these patterns for both policy and process are suggested, along with some speculations concerning the future of the Swedish administrative system. Sommaire. Dans les systèmes politiques cornposés de bureaucraties de plus en plus importantes, les attitudes des hauts fonctionnaires sont extraordinairement significatives, encore que mal comprises. Cette communication offre une étude préliminaire des attitudes de plus de 300 cadres administratifs supérieurs suéois, sur la base de renseignements recueillis en 1971. Les réponses à 35 questions écrites laissent supposer que les bureaucrates suédois, au niveau supérieur, sont satisfaits de l'évaluation qu'ils font de leurs activités, qu'ils ont un esprit indépendant et qu'ils sont raffinés politiquement. Ces mêmes réponses indiquent des attitudes qui entérinent ‘l'art du compromis’ qui est, traditionnellement, très suédois. Intellectuellement, cet art accentue des façons de penser particularistes. Socialement, il semble basé sur un engagement limité vis-à-vis des rôes officiels. L'auteur propose à l'examen certaines implications de cet état d'esprit du point de vue des politiques et des processus ainsi que des spVculations sur l'avenir du système administratif suédois.     

Performance of the SNPforID 52 SNP-plex assay in paternity testing

The performance of a multiplex assay with 52 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) developed for human identification was tested on 124 mother–child–father trios. The typical paternity indices (PIs) were 10⁵–10⁶ for the trios and 10³–10⁴ for the child–father duos. Using the SNP profiles from the randomly selected trios and 700 previously typed individuals, a total of 83,096 comparisons between mother, child and an unrelated man were performed. On average, 9–10 mismatches per comparison were detected. Four mismatches were genetic inconsistencies and 5–6 mismatches were opposite homozygosities. In only two of the 83,096 comparisons did an unrelated man match perfectly to a mother–child duo, and in both cases the PI of the true father was much higher than the PI of the unrelated man. The trios were also typed for 15 short tandem repeats (STRs) and seven variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs). The typical PIs based on 15 STRs or seven VNTRs were 5–50 times higher than the typical PIs based on 52 SNPs. Six mutations in tandem repeats were detected among the randomly selected trios. In contrast, there was not found any mutations in the SNP loci. The results showed that the 52 SNP-plex assay is a very useful alternative to currently used methods in relationship testing. The usefulness of SNP markers with low mutation rates in paternity and immigration casework is discussed.     

Is Scotland a Westminster-style Majoritarian Democracy or a Scandinavian-style Consensus Democracy? A Comparison of Scotland,the UK and Sweden

The idea of ‘new politics' in Scotland, in the 1990s, was based on a rejection of the ‘majoritarian’ politics of ‘old Westminster’ in favour of a ‘consensus democracy’ associated with Scandinavian countries. Yet, the nascent literature suggests that Scottish and UK policy-making practices are similar. UK policy making does not live up to its majoritarian reputation and Scotland was designed with key ‘old Westminster’ features. We extend the comparison to Sweden, as one of several, distinctive, Nordic reference points in Scotland. We examine critically its consensual image and identify the ways in which Scotland has similar features. The study helps clarify the practical meaning of majoritarian and consensus and encourages scholars to focus on actual behaviour rather than policy-making reputations. It also informs current debates on Scotland's future, using long-term evidence to inform recent attempts to revive this focus on the Nordic ideal.     

Assessment of approximate likelihood ratios from continuous distributions: a case study of digital camera identification

A reported likelihood ratio for the value of evidence is very often a point estimate based on various types of reference data. When presented in court, such frequentist likelihood ratio gets a higher scientific value if it is accompanied by an error bound. This becomes particularly important when the magnitude of the likelihood ratio is modest and thus is giving less support for the forwarded proposition. Here, we investigate methods for error bound estimation for the specific case of digital camera identification. The underlying probability distributions are continuous and previously proposed models for those are used, but the derived methodology is otherwise general. Both asymptotic and resampling distributions are applied in combination with different types of point estimators. The results show that resampling is preferable for assessment based on asymptotic distributions. Further, assessment of parametric estimators is superior to evaluation of kernel estimators when background data are limited.     

Neonaticides in Hamburg, Germany, from 1998 to 2008

In the analyzed period from 1998 to 2008, the autopsies performed at the Hamburg Institute of Legal Medicine included 13 cases in which an investigation for neonaticide had been initiated by the public prosecutor. The killed neonates showed a nearly equal distribution between both sexes. The most common method of neonaticide was suffocation. Most of the perpetrators were young, unmarried primipara with an average educational background. Almost all of them were suffering under psychological stress and had negated their pregnancy. In most cases, birth and neonaticide happened alone in their flat, and there was no medical attendance in any case. In the cases brought to court the women were charged with manslaughter (Section 212 German Criminal Code) and those found guilty were always granted a mitigated sentence pursuant to Section 213 Criminal Code.     

Teaching post-mortem external examination in undergraduate medical education--the formal and the informal curriculum

In undergraduate medical education, the training of post-mortem external examination on dead bodies might evoke strong emotional reactions in medical students that could counteract the intended learning goals. We evaluated student perception of a forensic medicine course, their perceived learning outcome (via self-assessment) and possible tutor-dependent influences on the overall evaluation of the course by a questionnaire-based survey among 150 medical students in Hamburg, Germany. The majority of students identified post-mortem external examination as an important learning objective in undergraduate medical education and did not feel that the dignity of the deceased was offended by the course procedures. After the course, more than 70% of the students felt able to perform an external examination and to fill in a death certificate. Respectful behavior of course tutors towards the deceased entailed better overall course ratings by students (p<0.001). Our findings highlight the importance of factors such as clearly defined learning goals and course standardization (formal curriculum) as well as tutor behavior (informal curriculum) in undergraduate education in forensic medicine. Furthermore, we suggest embedding teaching in forensic medicine in longitudinal curricula on death and dying and on the health consequences of interpersonal violence.     

A losing gamble. How mainstream parties facilitate anti-immigrant party success

The emergence of anti-immigrant parties in Western Europe has provoked very different responses from mainstream parties. Some have tried to counter the anti-immigrant parties while others have tried to recapture lost voters by taking a tougher stance on immigration. Country comparative studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of different strategies, but systematic testing has been impaired by small-n problems. This paper therefore exploits sub-national variation in 290 Swedish municipalities to investigate the effect of mainstream party strategy on anti-immigrant electoral success. The paper finds that a tougher stance on immigration on the part of mainstream parties is correlated with more anti-immigrant party support, even when controlling for a large number of socio-economic, historical and regional factors. This result indicates that mainstream parties legitimize anti-immigrant parties by taking a tougher position on immigration. However, the results presented in the paper show that it is not sufficient for one mainstream party to take a tougher position; it is only when the entire political mainstream is tougher on immigration that the anti-immigrant party benefits. What is more, the toughness of the parties on the left seems to be more legitimizing than the toughness of the parties on the right.     

Planned complex suicide. Report of two autopsy cases of suicidal shot injury and subsequent self-immolation

Two cases of planned complex suicide are presented. In both cases, the suicidal persons shot themselves after making sure that in the sequel their bodies would be burnt. In the first case, a 65-year-old man had shot himself in the mouth and consequently fell into a fire he had lighted before. In the second case, a 43-year-old man set fire to his flat and shot himself directly afterwards. On the basis of the reported cases, a short literature review on planned complex suicides is given.     

Social Capital and Endogenous Preferences

In this paper we analyze whether social capital can emerge endogenously from a process of preference evolution. We define social capital as preferences that promote voluntary cooperation in a one-shot Prisoner’s Dilemma game. We investigate how the endogenous preferences depend on the amount of information individuals have about each other’s preferences. When there is sufficiently much information, maximal social capital emerges. In general, the level of social capital varies positively with the amount of information. Our results may add to an understanding of the factors that determine a society’s ability to generate cooperative outcomes.     

Multiplex PCR and minisequencing of SNPs--a model with 35 Y chromosome SNPs

We have developed a robust single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) typing assay with co-amplification of 25 DNA-fragments and the detection of 35 human Y chromosome SNPs. The sizes of the PCR products ranged from 79 to 186 base pairs. PCR primers were designed to have a theoretical Tm of 60 +/- 5 degrees C at a salt concentration of 180 mM. The sizes of the primers ranged from 19 to 34 nucleotides. The concentration of amplification primers was adjusted to obtain balanced amounts of PCR products in 8mM MgCl2. For routine purposes, 1 ng of genomic DNA was amplified and the lower limit was approximately 100 pg DNA. The minisequencing reactions were performed simultaneously for all 35 SNPs with fluorescently labelled dideoxynucleotides. The size of the minisequencing primers ranged from 19 to 106 nucleotides. The minisequencing reactions were analysed by capillary electrophoresis and multicolour fluorescence detection. Female DNA did not influence the results of Y chromosome SNP typing when added in concentrations more than 300 times the concentrations of male DNA. The frequencies of the 35 SNPs were determined in 194 male Danes. The gene diversity of the SNPs ranged from 0.01 to 0.5.