Utopia becoming dystopia? Analyzing political trust among immigrants in Sweden

This paper aims to increase our knowledge on the political trust of immigrants’ in established democracies. Utilising Swedish survey data, based on a large oversample of respondents with a foreign background, we show that immigrants from countries more plagued by corruption place significantly higher trust in political institutions in Sweden in comparison with both immigrants from more auspicious institutional settings and with the native population. However, we also find that an initially bright view of the Swedish institutional qualities tend to attenuate over time, as immigrants from countries of high corruption develop more critical viewpoints. In con-trast to reasonable expectations, we nonetheless find that this decrease in trust is not explained by experiences of discrimination. Overall, the hypotheses elaborated and tested in this paper may be regarded as a more general contribution to a theory on how political trust is related to experiences and expectations of political institutions.political trust of immigrants’; Swedish survey data; experiences and expectations of political institutions

Political Integration in Practice: Explaining a Time-Dependent Increase in Political Knowledge among Immigrants in Sweden

Scholarly findings suggest that immigrants in Western countries, in general, participate less in politics and show lower levels of political efficacy than native-born citizens. Research is scarce, however, when it comes to immigrants’ knowledge about politics and public affairs in their new home country, and what happens with this knowledge over the years. This article focuses on immigrants in Sweden, a country known for ambitious multicultural policies, but where immigrants also face disadvantages in areas such as labor and housing markets. Utilizing particularly suitable survey data we find that immigrants, in general, know less about Swedish politics than natives, but also that this difference disappears with time. Exploring the influence of time of residence on political knowledge, the article shows that the positive effect of time in Sweden among immigrants remains after controlling for an extensive set of background factors. Moreover, the article examines this political learning effect through the lens of an Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) model. The findings suggest that the development of an actual ability to learn about Swedish politics—via education in Sweden, and by improved Swedish language skills—is an especially important explanation for the increase in political knowledge

Swedish exceptionalism? : Investigating the effect of associational involvement on generalized trust with panel data

For some time been it has been hypothesized that involvement in civic associations creates generalized social trust. Yet, prior panel data studies, based mainly on data collected in Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have found little support for the existence of such an effect. This article adds further empirical knowledge, focusing on Sweden. The evidence presented here is the first to provide support for the hypothesis using a survey that allows panel data models. In the conclusions, it is discussed whether the differing findings may depend on Sweden being a particularly favourable environment, considering its comparatively democratic and prosperous associational life; or if the reason is that the data at hand do not allow using exactly the same panel models as in some of the prior studies

Riots, Segregation, and Local Government Actions : A Missing Theoretical Perspective

Previous research has convincingly shown that residential segregation and unfavorable political structures are important factors when explaining the occurrence of riots. Still, structural factors such as these cannot, in themselves, explain why riots take place instead of peaceful protests or complete inactivity. In this paper I argue that more scholarly attention should be paid to the immediate triggers of riots, specific events that almost always involve actors within local government institutions of social control —in the form of the police, politicians, or the courts. The actions undertaken by these actors must be considered, because these actions are crucial in causing riot outbreaks and are undertheorized in previous research, I argue. The aim of this paper is to develop this theoretical approach and illustrating the approach with empirical data on the 1992 Los Angeles riot, the most violent riot in the U.S.A. since the 1960s

Riots, Segregation, and Local Government Actions : A Missing Theoretical Perspective

Previous research has convincingly shown that residential segregation and unfavorable political structures are important factors when explaining the occurrence of riots. Still, structural factors such as these cannot, in themselves, explain why riots take place instead of peaceful protests or complete inactivity. In this paper I argue that more scholarly attention should be paid to the immediate triggers of riots, specific events that almost always involve actors within local government institutions of social control —in the form of the police, politicians, or the courts. The actions undertaken by these actors must be considered, because these actions are crucial in causing riot outbreaks and are undertheorized in previous research, I argue. The aim of this paper is to develop this theoretical approach and illustrating the approach with empirical data on the 1992 Los Angeles riot, the most violent riot in the U.S.A. since the 1960s

Abandoning intolerance in a tolerant society : the influence of length of residence on the recognition of political rights among immigrants

This paper presents and empirically evaluates the idea that individual level political tolerance is influenced by the overall tolerance in society. Hence, the expectation is that more politically tolerant attitudes would be developed as a consequence of exposure to a social environment in which people in general are more inclined to accept freedom of speech, also when the message (or the messenger as such) challenges one’s own values and beliefs. The theoretical base of the analyses is a learning model, according to which more broad-minded and permissive attitudes, from a democratic point of view, are adopted as a result of (1) an adjustment stimulated by mere observation of an overall high-level of political tolerance in society (‘passive learning’), and (2) an adjustment due to cognition and interaction within important spheres in society (‘active learning’). Using surveydata, we explore empirically how length of residence among immigrants in high-tolerance Sweden are related to attitudinal measures of political tolerance, and to what extent a time-related effect is mediated through participation in ‘learning institutions’ of education, working-life, civil society and political involvement. In concert with expectations, the empirical findings suggest that an observed positive effect of time in Sweden on political tolerance may be explained by a gradual adoption of the principle that political rights should be recognized. Such an adoption, however, seems to require participation in activities of learning institutions, as we find that passive learning alone is not sufficient

Time for tolerance : Exploring the influence of learning institutions on the recognition of political rights among immigrants

This paper empirically evaluates the idea that individual level political tolerance is influenced by the overall tolerance in a given society. The expectation is that more tolerant attitudes would be developed as a consequence of exposure to a social environment in which people in general are more inclined to accept freedom of speech, also when a specific message challenges one’s own values and beliefs. A theoretical learning model is formulated, according to which more broad-minded and permissive attitudes, from a democratic point of view, are adopted as a result of (1) an adjustment stimulated by mere observation of an overall high-level of political tolerance in society (‘passive learning’), and (2) an adjustment due to cognition and interaction within important spheres in society (‘active learning’). Using survey data, we explore empirically how length of residence among immigrants in the high-tolerance country of Sweden is related to measures of political tolerance. Further, we examine to what extent a time-related effect is mediated through participation in a set of ‘learning institutions’—focusing on activities related to education, working-life, civil society and political involvement. In concert with expectations, the empirical findings suggest that a positive effect of time in Sweden on political tolerance may be explained by a gradual adoption of the principle that political rights should be recognized. Importantly, however, such an adoption seems to require participation in activities of learning institutions, as we find that passive learning in itself is not sufficient.The authors contributed equally.</p

Models of contractual public- private partnerships

Maģistra darba temats: Līgumiskās publiskās un privātās partnerības modeļi. Diplomdarbā ir 3 nodaļas, ievads un kopsavilkums. Pirmās publiskās un privātās partnerības pazīmes saskatāmas jau pirms 2000 gadiem Romas impērijā, kad pasta pārvadāšanu pārraudzīja imperators, bet vietējās pārvaldības (municipalitātes) pārraudzīja pasta stacijas. Pēc izsoles uzaicinājuma tika noslēgts līgums ar pasta ēku vadītājiem, kuriem tika uzticēta to būve, uzturēšana un darbības nodrošināšana uz pieciem gadiem. Publiskās un privātās partnerības projektus mūsdienās aktīvi sāka izmantot 20.gadsimta 90.gadu sākumā, izmantojot publisko un privāto partnerību kā vienu no instrumentiem publiskās pārvaldes nodrošināšanai, kā arī publiskās infrastruktūras objektu būvniecībai un apsaimniekošanai. Šobrīd publisko un privātā partnerību izmanto vairāk nekā 30 pasaules valstīs. Latvijas Republikā diskusijas par nepieciešamību izmantot publisko un privātās partnerības projektus ir sākušās tikai pēdējo gadu laikā. Par mērķtiecīgu publiskās un privātās partnerības projektu attīstības politikas realizēšanas sākumu Latvijā var uzskatīt 2000.gada 20.janvāri, kad Saeima pieņēma Koncesiju likumu, un līdz ar to radās pirmā nelielā normatīvā bāze publiskās un privātās partnerības projektu īstenošanai. Maģistra darba pirmajā nodaļā ir apskatīti un salīdzināti dažādu valstu publiskās un privātās partnerības jēdzienu skaidrojumi un noteiktas jēdzienu kopīgās iezīmes. Tāpat apskatīti valstīs noteiktie publiskās un privātas partnerības mērķi un publiskās un privātās partnerības modeļi. Nozīmīga problēma, kas saistīta ar jēdziena skaidrojumu un mērķa noteikšanu un pastāv vairākas valstīs, ir tā, ka normatīvajos aktos nav noteikts publiskās un privātās partnerības jēdziena skaidrojums un mērķis. Maģistra darba otrajā nodaļā apskatīti līgumiskās publiskās un privātās partnerības modeļi – partnerības iepirkuma līgums un koncesiju līgums, kā arī mērķsabiedrību veidošana un sadarbības līgumu slēgšana publiskās un privātās partnerības ietvaros un noskaidrotas pastāvošās problēmas regulējumā, kas varētu kavēt līgumiskās publiskās un privātās partnerības projektu īstenošanu. Maģistra darba trešajā nodaļā apskatīts publiskās un privātās partnerības normatīvais regulējums Latvijā un realizētie publiskās un privātās partnerības projekti. Galvenās problēmas, kas kavē publiskās un privātās partnerības attīstību Latvijā, ir normatīvās bāzes trūkums, kā arī pieredzes un zināšanu trūkums. Maģistra darbā izdarītie secinājumi apkopoti kopsavilkumā.The theme of Master thesis: Models of contractual public – private partnership. The Master thesis includes 3 sections, introduction and summary. First features of public-private partnership are discernible already 2000 years ago in Roman Empire, when the post transportation was inspected by the emperor, but the post houses were inspected by the local managements (municipalities). After the invitation to the auction the contract with the supervisors of post houses responsible for the building of them, maintenance and providing the operation by five years was concluded. The projects of public-private partnership in these days began to use in the beginning of 90ties of 20 century by using the public-private partnership as one of the instruments for providing the public administration, as well as the object of public infrastructure for construction and managing. The public-private partnership at the moment is being used in more than 30 world countries. The discussions about the necessity to use the projects of state’s and private partnership in the Republic of Latvia had begun just in last years. The determined beginning of realization of politics of the public-private partnership’s projects development in Latvia can count the January 20 of Year 2000, when the parliament passed the concession law and wherewith the first small normative base for the implementation of the public-private partnership’s projects created. The explanations of the conceptions of public-private partnership of different countries are viewed and compared and the common features of conceptions are determined in the first section of Master thesis. The targets of public-private partnership determined by the country and models of public-private partnership are also viewed. The notable problem connected with the explanation of the conceptions and target’s determination existing in many countries is that there is no explanation of public-private partnership’s conception and targets stated in normative acts. In the second section of Master thesis models of contractual public – private partnership – partnership purchase agreement and concession agreement, establishment of special purpose entities, and conclusion of partnership agreement within a framework of public – private partnership are examined, and existing problems in normative regulation, which can impede contractual public – private partnership project realization, are identified. The normative regulation of public-private partnership in Latvia and realized projects of public-private partnership are viewed in the third section of Master thesis. The most important delaying factor of the development of public-private partnership in Latvia is the deficiency of normative basis as well as the deficiency of experience and knowledge. The conclusions drawn in the Master thesis are summed in the summary

Political Trust as Modest Expectations : Exploring Immigrants’ Falling Confidence in Swedish Political Institutions

Recent studies report high levels of political trust among immigrants in Western Europe. Notably, such confidence tend to be particularly pronounced among immigrants from countries without democratic institutions and poor records in terms of corruption level. Yet over time, members of these population categories tend to express decreasing levels of political trust. Following previous research, such a pattern may be explained by high initial—although with time retreating—expectations concerning the quality of institutions in Western Europe. Analyzing Swedish survey data—particularly appropriate in the light of competing hypotheses concerning acculturation and barriers to integration, including discrimination—this paper presents additional support for the importance of expectations when it comes to political trust. Our analyses suggest that the gradual development of more modest expectations regarding institutional performance in the new country is a trustworthy explanation of the falling levels of immigrants‘ political trust

Utopia becoming dystopia? : Analyzing political trust among immigrants in Sweden

This paper aims to increase our knowledge on the political trust of immigrants’ in established democracies. Utilising Swedish survey data, based on a large oversample of respondents with a foreign background, we show that immigrants from countries more plagued by corruption place significantly higher trust in political institutions in Sweden in comparison with both immigrants from more auspicious institutional settings and with the native population. However, we also find that an initially bright view of the Swedish institutional qualities tend to attenuate over time, as immigrants from countries of high corruption develop more critical viewpoints. In con-trast to reasonable expectations, we nonetheless find that this decrease in trust is not explained by experiences of discrimination. Overall, the hypotheses elaborated and tested in this paper may be regarded as a more general contribution to a theory on how political trust is related to experiences and expectations of political institutions