Introduction

In Sweden, female prison officers are a long-established fact. Today women make up about 38% of the prison officer work-force. However, the distribution of sexes in the organization is quite uneven between different types of prison wings and units, and at the in-group level there is an informal gendered division of labour going on. The article deals with how a gendered division of labour comes about as a result of socially established motives and notions among prison officers, as well as prisoners, about men's and women's different qualities in performing different types of work tasks. It is based on data from a minor interview study (from 2006), and a 3-year multi-strategic research project containing qualitative case-studies and a nationwide survey (from 2007–2009). The article concludes that a great number of female officers contribute to a more prominent position for the rehabilitative side of prison work. However, the on-going gendered division of labour in and between wings and units is also one important factor behind sub-cultural differentiation and variations in work practices in the prison organization. A more balanced distribution of the sexes would stimulate rehabilitative work and a more unified view of the occupational role throughout the whole organization.     

Multi-Level Governance as ‘Post-Constitutional’ Politics: Subnational Actors and the Swedish Constitution

In 2011, an amendment was introduced to the Swedish constitution to provide stronger protection for local self-government. This article seeks to explain this amendment in the light of the development of central-local relations towards multi-level governance (MLG). It explores the adaptation hypothesis, i.e. the developments in MLG are followed by an adjustment in constitutional policy that is influenced by subnational actors, through an empirical study of the most prominent Swedish subnational actor – the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). The research showed that SALAR developed an agenda for the regulation of central-local relations in the constitution. SALAR was able to exert influence with this agenda by participating in the policy-making process prior to the amendment of the constitution. The research findings underscore that even though MLG per se has little to do with constitutional policy, it has consequences for such policy due to the role played by subnational actors.     

Book reviews

Liberal democratic governments may differ in both their kind and degree of democracy. However, the literature too often conflates this distinction, hindering our ability to understand what kinds of governing structures are more democratic. To clarify this issue, the article examines two prominent contemporary models of democracy: developmental liberal democracy (DLD) and protective liberal democracy (PLD). While the former takes a ‘thicker’ approach to governance than the latter, conventional wisdom holds that these systems differ only in kind rather than degree. The article tests this assumption through an empirical comparison of electoral, legislative, and information-regulating institutions in two representative cases: Sweden and the United States. The empirical findings lead us to the conclusion that developmental liberal democracies represent not only a different kind, but also a deeper degree of democracy than protective liberal democracies. The implications for democracy promotion appear substantial.     

Third Way decomposition and the rightward shift in Finnish and Swedish politics

Recent elections in Sweden and Finland are of note for contemporary politics. They confirm that the rightward shift in Nordic politics is not confined to Norway and Denmark but forms a more general trend. This includes increased appeal of both mainstream conservatives and populist radical right forces. This article contextualises this phenomenon within broader European developments. In accounting for the shift in question, the article stresses the cumulative effects of choices made by erstwhile centre-left hegemonic agents, most notably the consequences of the so-called Third Way. This perspective has the merit of providing a way for holding politicians accountable, and it avoids the fatalism entailed in invoking ‘inevitable’ structural developments.     

Deserving Shelter: Conditional Access to Accommodation for Rejected Asylum Seekers in Austria,the Netherlands,and Sweden

Abstract

Limitations in access to welfare services for noncitizens of a host country are structured through conditional entitlements, which require benefit claimants to meet certain conditions to access welfare services. This article explores the conditions and regulations determining access to state-organized accommodation facilities for non-removed rejected asylum seekers in Austria, the Netherlands, and Sweden and the way in which these conditions are implemented. Based on qualitative interviews with stakeholders and analysis of policy documents, I argue that qualities of deservingness, such as vulnerability and performance, determine noncitizens’ access to state-provided accommodation, which strengthens the logic of migration control.     

Immigration and crime: a time-trend analysis of self-reported crime in Sweden, 1999–2017

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the direction and rate of change in self-reported crime over time, based on immigrant status and region of origin. The study is based on eight nationally representive school surveys conducted by the National Council for Crime Prevention between 1999 and 2017, with a sample of 50,657 adolescents. Results in this study showed a decreasing trend in self-reported offending among both first and second generation immigrant youth, and also among immigrant youths from different regions of origin. The results also show that offending has declined at a faster rate among first generation immigrants by comparison with native Swedes.     

Crime and reactions to crime in 34 Swedish birth cohorts: from historical descriptions to forecasting the future

This article analyses 34 Swedish birth cohorts with regard to their participation in crime as measured by data from the convictions database maintained by Statistics Sweden. Most existing cohort studies are limited to one or a few cohorts. By contrast, the present study includes 34 cohorts, i.e. all persons born in Sweden between 1958 and 1991. The article discusses methodological problems associated with this type of approach and examines the possibility of making forecasts. The central results are that the number of males with a criminal record has decreased, whereas the number of females has remained fairly stable. Forecasts indicate that the cohorts' participation in crime will continue to decrease. Research and policy implications of the findings are outlined. It is proposed to introduce cohort statistics as a standard branch within regular criminal justice statistics.     

IT-related Crime – Old Crimes in a New Guise,But New Directions Too!

This article constitutes an attempt to describe the nature of IT-related crime and how it is likely to evolve in the future. By means of a number of empirical studies, the authors have attempted to estimate the prevalence of a number of different IT-related incidents and offences in Sweden during the period 1997-1998. The article shows that IT-related crime consists to a large extent of less serious offences. One might say that everyday crime has expanded into a new technological environment. Parts of the study nonetheless indicate that there are more serious IT-related offences being committed. In this regard the authors' focus is on offences related to the most valuable commodity in modern society, information. On the basis of the empirical studies, two different developmental patterns are identified; the first of these involves everything carrying on much the same as before, with no real evidence of any radical shift taking place; the second involves society going through a period of relatively comprehensive structural and technological change, which in turn is creating new and dangerous opportunity structures for crime.     

Tremors from afar: negotiating the rise of Donald Trump on Sweden’s populist right

ABSTRACT

While commentators often describe transnational far-right populism as a unified movement, Teitelbaum’s article investigates incongruities among anti-immigrant, nationalist actors in two locations today. It focuses on the implications of Donald Trump’s success for the Sweden Democrats, highlighting party leaders’ inability to establish a coherent position on the US Republican. Their struggle derives from Trump’s mismatch with the party’s emerging reformist ideals. Accordingly, the public sphere analysed in this article provides insight, not only into the internal divisions and fraught history of the Sweden Democrats, but also into the dynamic nature of contemporary right-wing populist movements in the West.