Political Science

Mid Sweden University has two broad political science research specialisations with a shared focus on the functionality of the political system, with special emphasis on societal challenges and crises.

One strand of research focuses on voters, parties, elections and public opinion. From a voter perspective, attention is placed on how well the democratic system works in terms of representation and accountability. For example, what affects electoral turnout in different population groups, geographical areas or across different institutional settings? What opinions are represented in general elections? From a party-political perspective, attention is devoted to competition, internal as well as external, impact and and regrowth within youth organizations, , how they organise themselves internally as well as in the parliamentary arena and how the decision paths work at different political levels. Within this specialisation, research is conducted with special focus on the challenges of democracy, such as the existence of right-wing radical populist parties and the ever-present threat to the social order from the environment and climate change.

The second strand of research focuses on policy changes and the implementation of policy decisions. This specialisation is specifically directed at regional and local political levels and often from a comparative perspective, where variations in policymaking are placed in the spotlight. This research direction explores how policies are designed and put into practice, and how decisions are drawn up in collaboration with the surrounding society, in different policy sectors and from a multi-level perspective. This includes, for example, theoretical perspectives on the importance of actors and structures in shaping perspectives and behaviours. Research within the specialisation is empirically oriented towards current societal issues such as integration, gender equality, climate change, crisis management and local development.

In the coming years, we will work to establish a municipal research database, which will become an important part of the continued development of the research environment and its networks in the research community and other relevant societal actors. The database naturally connects the subject’s two research specialisations by including data on parties, voters and elections, variables that capture how governance and collaboration take place, as well as indicators that reflect the performance of local political welfare systems.

To increase the relevance of Mid Sweden University in the national as well as the international arena, the focus of the subject is specifically directed at the aspects where it has its comparative advantages. One such advantage when it comes to political science at Mid Sweden University is its local roots in general and the research conducted at municipal level in particular. The aim of the subject is to be an obvious national as well as international partner.

The broad knowledge about local conditions thereby forms a particularly favourable basis for establishing a municipal research database. The purpose of such a database is to compile, harmonise and document different types of data sources that exist for the country’s municipalities. There are many advantages of hosting a freely available data set relevant to social science based on Sweden’s municipalities. In the short term, it makes it easier for the entire research community not to have to bring together the data themselves. In the slightly longer term, it contributes to making Mid Sweden University an important node in a network of researchers and students with an interest in the local perspective.