The report analyses the policy statements on Arctic issues released from 2010 by the EU institutions and the EU’s role-building in the Arctic political framework, notably the Arctic Council. It describes how the EU’s role in the Arctic is seen in strategies and policy papers of Member States, and reports on the EU’s relations with other Arctic actors, particularly indigenous peoples. It gives an overall view of the status of the main EU policies with relevance for the Arctic and identifies the main challenges the EU has to face for progressing to an integrated and coherent Arctic policy.

The purpose of this book is to spotlight the way in which political scandals in four Nordic countries have been launched, directed, dramatized and interpreted through different genres of journalism – in an interactive tug-of-war between editors and various political actors. News institutions help to build political careers – and to tear them down. A mediated scandalization process can make the path from power to powerlessness, from a top position to exclusion, very short. A number of questions are discussed: How important are the norm violations that have led to political scandals? Have the types of scandals changed over time? How may rivals and political opponents use mediated scandals? Are character assassination and demonization typical traits of a scandalization process? Are male and female politicians treated differently? Scandalous! is based on case studies and content analyses of mediated political scandals in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, including an analysis of the frequencies, types, characteristics and consequences of national political scandals during the period 1980–2010.

Rapporten handlar om social tillit i de nordiska samhällena. Norden har högst nivåer av social tillit i världen. Detta gynnar såväl samhällsekonomin som individer och samhället i dess helhet. Rapporten diskuterar bakgrunden till att den sociala tilliten blivit så hög i Norden samt vilka utmaningar som den står inför.

This report concerns social trust in the Nordic countries. The Nordic region has the highest levels of social trust in the world. This benefits the economy, individuals and society as a whole. This report discusses the background to why social trust has reached such high levels in the Nordic region, and the present day challenges it is facing.

This chapter discusses how media and political information sources navigate change and adjust their needs-oriented behaviour to changing conditions. The results presented are based on 20 qualitative interviews with leading political journalists as well as government advisors and spokespersons in Lithuania. Although media and political sources gain power in different situations, both sides function in reciprocal interconnectedness. Formal contacts are quite consistent and professionalised, but they continue to work in the shadow of informal social networks, which create their own power relationships, dynamics and hierarchical structures. Though the findings are contextually fashioned, the views regarding the interaction indicate broader trends of communication professionalisation identified also in other cultures and political conditions.

This chapter compares the political cultures in the four countries analysed in this volume. Based on an inductive qualitative approach that singles out specificities in how political communication advisors and journalists interact within historical/institutional and professionalist/normative conditions and related constraints, the findings challenge earlier research on political communication culture. The chapter shows how political communication culture may act as a modifying factor in times of systemic change. It also reveals differences between and within countries that are often seen as forming distinct groups: Finland and Sweden as Nordic countries and Lithuania and Poland as Central European countries that have undergone recent fundamental system changes. The chapter ends with a discussion of how changes in the technological communication environment may affect political communication culture simultaneously in all four countries.

The Nordic countries are often positioned as digital front-runners in the European and global contexts. Digitalisation is changing the nature of business, jobs and provision of public services. Rapid digitalisation and technological change require governments and organisations to introduce proactive measures to embrace new digitalisation opportunities. How to create an enabling environment for digital transformation at the local, regional, national and Nordic levels?

This policy brief explores the local and regional dimension of digital transformation. It examines the opportunities and challenges that Nordic regions are facing related to digitalisation and highlights some lessons learned from five Nordic regions implementing digitalisation agendas. It also sets out key recommendations for creating an enabling environment for digitalisation work at different governance levels. This research is part of the work of the Nordic Thematic Group on Innovative and Resilient Regions established by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The Nordic region has the potential to become one of the leading scale-up hubs in the world. Drawing on internationally comparable data, this report shows that in all the Nordics the number of scale-ups per capita is well above the EU average.Indeed the scale-up density for the Nordic region is almost on par with the UK and Switzerland – two renowned scale-up nations. Finland, Sweden and Iceland rank especially high.But the analysis also documents a significant gap between the Nordics and two scale-up champions: the US and Israel.Thus, on average Nordic countries have 5 scale-ups per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the US this figure is close to 8, and in Israel it is 12.If the Nordic region is to narrow the gap between it and the US and Israel it is vital that founders of1. Executive Summary scale-ups, investors and policymakers in all of the Nordic countries have comprehensive knowledge and insights on the key challenges and barriers that Nordic scale-ups face at different stages of growth.Even more importantly, all of the key actors will need to understand how successful scale-ups manage to meet and overcome key barriers for growth.Based on more than 50 interviews with CEOs and founders of Nordic scale-ups, and representatives from the investor side, this report provides new and detailed insights into common traits and challenges among Nordic scale-ups.

This study investigates the role of remote work in enhancing the resilience of rural and remote municipalities in the Nordic countries, highlighting the shift towards hybrid work models. The report presents six case studies, each detailing the context, challenges and opportunities associated with remote work. The study found that many public authorities lack formal remote work policies, relying on pre-existing or pandemic-developed frameworks aimed at work-life balance.

The research points to remote work's potential for attracting and retaining residents and skilled workers, crucial for rural development, despite challenges like the need for improved digital infrastructure and the absence of formal policies. Initiatives like co-working spaces and the focus on enhancing regional attractiveness through quality of life and infrastructure investments are seen as key to leveraging remote work for sustainable regional development. However, the study also notes obstacles such as legislative issues and the need for comprehensive strategies to fully realise the benefits of remote work for rural revitalisation.

Remote work offers a pathway to sustainable development in Nordic regions by introducing new skills, enhancing business innovation, and improving public services, which helps combat out-migration and boosts quality of life. For maximum impact, investments in digital infrastructure, supportive work environments, and regional attractiveness are crucial, paving the way for a more vibrant and sustainable future.

The UNITWIN Cooperation Programme on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) is based on an initiative from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC). The main objectives of the UNITWIN network are to foster collaboration among member universities, to build capacity in each of the countries in order to empower them to advance media and information literacy and intercultural dialogue, and to promote freedom of speech, freedom of information and the free flow of ideas and knowledge.

The MILID Yearbok 2014 brings together a range of reviewed articles, which articulate the theme of global citizenship from varied perspectives and regions of the world. The articles represent different expressions on media and information literacy from resear-chers and practitioners, who offer bold new strategies, share research findings and best practices, musing and reflections.

The Yearbook is organized around five sections: Global citizenship; New media, new approaches; Youth engagement; Education and educators’ changing role, Media and information literacy: A worldwide selection from the UNITWIN partners.

This second yearbook, MILID Yearbook 2014, is the result of a collaboration between the UNITWIN Cooperation Programme on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) and NORDICOM’s International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media.

The Polish political and media systems changed dramatically after the 2015 parliamentary elections. The Law and Justice Party gained power and started to restructure the conditions for political communication – journalists, press secretaries and politicians. However, despite structural and organisational changes within public service media, journalists keep working and reporting about political events. This chapter presents the relationships between Polish journalists and their political sources – both politicians and press secretaries. The interviews show a mutual dependency between politics and the press, where both sides recognise the need for formal as well as informal relationships. The nature of the relationship varies with the political climate: when the political situation becomes complicated, politicians become less accessible and press secretaries block the information flow. As a result, journalists in Poland prefer direct contact with politicians and/or other complementary sources of information. The respondents further emphasised the need for a professional relationship and adhering to professional norms.

How capable are local and regional economies of recovering from global and local shocks and threats and ensure resilient long-term development paths?

Answering this question was the challenge of the Nordic Thematic Group on Innovative and Resilient regions, set by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Thus, from 2017 to 2018, an exploratory in-depth study was conducted on economic and social resilience in the Nordic regions.

The empirical research included a close examination of a variety of threats as well as factors driving resilience in regions in all five Nordic Countries.

Has remote work post-pandemic expanded the influence of Nordic capitals on surrounding towns? Through case studies in five Nordic towns, the report focused on how remote work opportunities influence small-town attractiveness, population retention, and planning strategies. It explores the effects on populations, urban-rural landscapes, and planning needs.

The findings reveal a shift in population dynamics, with people moving from capitals to smaller towns, leveraging remote work's flexibility. This shift presents opportunities and challenges for regional development, highlighting the need for further research to navigate the complexities of remote work's long-term implications. Despite remote work becoming common, the study found little proof that remote work opportunities have made these towns more attractive. 

Remote or hybrid work can attract new populations and highly qualified personnel, enhancing towns' attractiveness without necessarily increasing the population. Ongoing research is needed to fully understand remote work's potential and inform policy and planning to attract new residents and visitors.

Municipal reforms are gaining political momentum in the Nordic countries, which all face great social changes. Some countries have already pushed their reforms through; others are still struggling with decisions on the matter. Finland has failed after several years of trying to implement a renewed reform process. Norway is in the midst of such a process, and Greenland is reconsidering the reform it undertook in 2009. In this issue of Nordregio News, we review current initiatives on municipal reforms in the Nordic countries. What exactly is happening now, and why?

Norden har 200 års erfaring med fredelig sameksistens og konfliktløsning, som er værd at fremhæve og tage ved lære af, og netop derfor har de selvstyrende områder i Norden tiltrukket sig en hel del opmærksomhed i den seneste tid. Der er stor international interesse for disse erfaringer, herunder erfaringer med territoriel selvbestemmelse. I en verden præget af voksende uro ser man det som særligt værdifuldt at studere Færøernes, Grønlands og Ålands selvbestemmelse ud fra et konfliktløsningsmæssigt perspektiv. Den stærke udvikling, som disse selvstyrende områder har gennemgået, samtidig med at man har formået at finde fredelige løsninger på de konflikter, der er opstået, synes vigtige at studere – ikke kun i et nordisk, men også i et bredere internationalt perspektiv.

Her præsenteres konklusionerne fra et sammenlignende studie af de selvstyrende områders retslige, økonomiske og sikkerhedspolitiske udvikling.

Den fulde undersøgelse kan bestilles fra Ålands Fredsinstitut eller downloades elektronisk her – www.peace.ax

Norden har erfarenheter av fredlig samlevnad i 200 år som är värda att lyfta fram och dra lärdomar av. Det finns ett stort internationellt intresse för dessa erfarenheter, inklusive erfarenheter av territoriell självstyrelse. I en värld som ter sig alltmer oroande ses Färöarnas, Grönlands och Ålands självstyrelser som värdefulla att studera ur ett konfliktlösande perspektiv. Den starka utveckling som självstyrelserna har genomgått, samtidigt som man lyckats att finna fredliga lösningar på de konflikter som uppstått, syns viktiga att studera, inte bara i ett nordiskt utan också i ett vidare internationellt perspektiv.

Här presenteras konklusionerna från en jämförande studie av de nordiska självstyrelsernas rättsliga, ekonomiska och säkerhetspolitiska utveckling.

Den fullständiga studien kan beställas från Ålands fredsinstitut eller laddas ner elektroniskt – www.peace.ax

The Nordic Region has enjoyed two centuries of peaceful co-existence that are worth highlighting and learning from. As a result, the Nordic autonomous regions have attracted considerable attention in recent years. There is significant international interest in their experiences, including their experience of territorial autonomy. In a world that appears increasingly troubling, the autonomy of the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland is worth studying from the perspective of conflict resolution. It seems important to examine the marked development that these autonomous regions have undergone and the success they have had in finding solutions to the conflicts that have arisen – not just from a Nordic perspective, but also from a wider international point of view.

The conclusions of a comparative study of the autonomous regions’ legal, economic, and security policy developments are presented here.

The complete study can be ordered from The Åland Islands Peace Institute at www.peace.ax

Pohjoismailla on kokemusta rauhanomaisesta rinnakkaiselosta 200 vuoden ajalta. Pohjoismaiden itsehallinnot ovat saaneet paljon huomiota viime aikoina, ja Pohjoismaiden rauhanomaisesta konfliktinratkaisusta voidaan ottaa oppia muuallakin. Alueellisen itsehallinnon kokemukset herättävätkin laajaa kansainvälistä kiinnostusta. Entistä levottomammassa maailmassa Ahvenanmaan, Färsaarten ja Grönlannin itsehallinnot nähdään arvokkaina esimerkkeinä konfliktinratkaisusta. Ei vain Pohjoismaissa, vaan myös laajemmin kansainvälisesti, on syytä ottaa oppia näiden itsehallintoalueiden huimasta kehityksestä sekä rauhanomaisten ratkaisujen löytymisestä konflikteihin. Tässä tiivistelmässä esitellään Pohjoismaiden itsehallintojen oikeudellisen, taloudellisen ja turvallisuuspoliittisen kehityksen vertailevan tutkimuksen johtopäätelmät. Julkaisun voi tilata kokonaisuudessaan Ahvenanmaan rauhaninstituutista

This book is concerned with the role of news media in an increasingly globalized society. It tries to unravel how news as an institution and a genre is both affected by globalization and itself an agent of globalization. A recurrent theme in all of the articles is the impact of globalization on information supply, public debate, and the exercise of democracy. The articles are organized around four themes: Globalization and the role of news media; New media, global news, and democracy; Regionalization and domestication of global news, and War news in global media.

This article peers into the anxieties of the democratic process in post-conflict Nepal. Today, while the recent elections gave Nepal’s politicians a new mandate to finish the constitution-drafting process, the negotiations surrounding the troubled issue continue. Despite the established formal democratic institutions and procedures, authoritarian legacies and pre-democratic political practices, values and attitudes co-exist with the new democratic establishment with negative consequences for governmental stability. The article shows how the existing Nepalese political culture reflects a contradictory mix of deference to senior leaders, but also distrust of their authority, and a culture of confrontation rather than compromise.

This article peers into the anxieties of the democratic process in post-conflict Nepal. Today, while the recent elections gave Nepal’s politicians a new mandate to finish the constitution-drafting process, the negotiations surrounding the troubled issue continue. Despite the established formal democratic institutions and procedures, authoritarian legacies and pre-democratic political practices, values and attitudes co-exist with the new democratic establishment with negative consequences for governmental stability. The article shows how the existing Nepalese political culture reflects a contradictory mix of deference to senior leaders, but also distrust of their authority, and a culture of confrontation rather than compromise.

Technological development has led to the emergence of newer media channels, and traditional media logic has been amplified with network and social media logic. These changes have influenced political communication, not the least by producing a shift from top-down communication patterns toward horizontal and interactive ones. This chapter looks at models of government communication on Facebook and Twitter in Finland, Poland, and Sweden. The results show that ministers in the three countries of the study use Facebook and Twitter differently, but that some general trends are similar across national contexts. The public pages of Facebook serve as top-down channels for personal branding and bypassing conventional media, while Twitter provides informational exchange with professional elites. In general, the model of government communication combines features of traditional and new media practices and follows a mixed logic: media logic and network/social media logics. According to the results, press secretaries and press assistants could play the role of gatekeeper in this communication.

This chapter explores political executive-media relations in Sweden, with a particular focus on professional day-to-day relationships and habits. The analysis is mainly based on extensive interviews with journalists and government press secretaries, and it establishes the routinisation at work, as well as the professionalisation. The exchanges between journalists and their sources appear to be close but with recognition of each other’s professional roles. Media developments influence the relationship, and the downsizing of newsrooms, multi-platform production 24/7 and increased competition for unique news have made journalists more dependent on available sources. At the same time, professionalisation of government communication makes news management more efficient and has centralising effects on executive systems. Together these trends shift the balance between journalists and their political sources in favour of the latter. The presented findings have important implications for research on journalism, media and political executives.

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NB. Figure 7.5 (Chapter 7, page 161) in the print publication contain errors, see Errata. The digital publication includes the corrected version. (January 30, 2019)

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This book explores the interplay between government and media drawing on unique evidence from, and in-depth analysis of, four national cases: Finland, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. Based on the chapters dedicated to each country, five additional chapters address the following cross-national themes: government communication, social media, formality/informality in journalist-source relations, mediatisation of politics, and political communication culture.

The book reveals what really goes on between the political executive and the media in everyday practices within these countries. First, it uncovers a process of mediated political-cultural change within media-political systems. Second, it illustrates the workings of prime ministerial power and communication aides at this apex of political power and the media and those who work there. Third, it examines both the struggle within governing institutions to control the flow of information and the tensions between civil servants and political aides, and takes the reader through the four media-political contexts rooted in a deep knowledge of these relationships.

The result is an illuminating and original analysis of politics, political communication, media and journalism, and offers greater understanding of the realities of government – and democracy – and media in practice as well as the role of media within contemporary politics.

This chapter hypothesises that there is a trend of centralisation in government communication – a move upwards in the political executive towards central coordination and control. We test this argument empirically through an inventory of elite interview evidence and a four-country comparison including two case studies – Finland and Sweden – as well as two case illustrations – Lithuania and Poland. Based on, altogether, over 80 interviews with political journalists and political/media advisors or press secretaries in the four countries, the chapter analyses how government communication is structured. The cases of Finland and Sweden offer support for the centralisation hypothesis while those of Lithuania and Poland point out its limitations. We thus conclude that the extent to which government communication is centralised varies across contexts and that the variation is patterned.

The tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia during Christmas 2004 caused many deaths among vacationers from Finland and Sweden. It could be described as one of the worst catastrophes experienced during the post-war period in these countries. This book examines how this dramatic and unexpected event affected public communication patterns and practices in countries like Finland and Sweden. The communicative relations between government actors, the media and citizens always significantly affect the development of crucial democratic values such as trust, accountability and legitimacy. The book covers different topics related to this issue, such as strategic political communication, media coverage, newsroom practices, public opinion and the use of new media in Finland and Sweden after the tsunami disaster.

Every young person is entitled to be heard and involved in matters that concern them. But how can decision makers safeguard meaningful child and youth participation in times of crisis? This publication contains 34 recommendations and 9 promising examples for decision makers in the Nordic region on how to build resilient structures for the future.

The analysis and recommendations in this report are based on conversations with more than 100 representatives of youth and national experts in the Nordic region, covering the Nordic countries and Greenland, Åland and the Faroe Islands. The lessons and direct experiences of the representatives of Nordic youth organisations serve as an important source of information in preparing for potential crises in the future. The learnings are valuable for all adults making decisions that concerns young, and especially important for decision makers responsible for any crisis management structures.

Decision makers in the Nordic region were not prepared to protect children’s rights when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Their right to be heard was often neglected or recognised too late.

To do better in a future crisis we need to have participatory structures in place before the crisis hits. Children and young people don’t have as much power as adults, and they cannot yet vote. We also need decision makers that have positive attitudes toward children and youth, necessary skills, and competence. Decision makers should presume that a child has the capacity to form her or his own views and recognize that she or he has the right to express them.

We encourage local authorities and decision makers in the Nordic region to use the checklist in the publication to build resilient structures for child and youth participation. If a new crisis strikes, the Nordic region must ensure that the perspectives and experiences of children and youth are included in the decision making processes.

By employing semi-structured interviews this article investigates the peacebuilding environment in Kathmandu, Nepal, with an eye in particular to capture everyday conceptualizations of sustainable peace, and to investigate whether these might contribute to more holistic peacebuilding approaches in the country. The article draws initial inspiration from the post-liberal peace framework put forth by Oliver Richmond, which problematizes the liberal peace model by highlighting its tendency to neglect the local context and needs, as well as its frequent reliance on top-down and technocratic measures. Instead, Richmond calls for peacebuilding approaches which are more holistic and sensitive to the everyday needs of inhabitants of post-conflict societies. It is found that the post-liberal peace approach largely corresponds to the manner in which the interlocutors of this article conceptualize sustainable peace, i.e. by highlighting everyday issues such as material improvements, social justice, and national political stability. However, the article concludes by arguing that there are also issues of practical concern with both the post-liberal peace framework and the manner in which sustainable peace is conceptualized by interlocutors in Kathmandu.

Denne rapporten handler om den universelle retten alle barn og unge har til å delta, å si sin mening og bli hørt i alle saker som angår dem. Vi ønsker å gi innblikk i hvordan denne retten sikres for barn og unge med funksjonsnedsettelser i Norden.

I rapporten belyser vi noen av de vanligste barrierene for deltakelse som barn og unge møter på ulike arenaer. Vår nordiske ekspertgruppe har bidratt med å finne fram aktuell forskning og gode metoder og redskaper til arbeidet med å sikre inkludering og deltakelse for flere.  En rekke samfunnsaktører har en viktig rolle i arbeidet med å sikre deltakelse for barn og unge med funksjonsnedsettelser. I rapporten har vi tatt mål av oss til å beskrive sentrale nasjonale og nordiske aktører og deres rolle. Vi har også fått innspill fra nordiske ungdomsdelegater.

Retten til deltakelse og innflytelse er særskilt viktig for barn. Det kommer av at barnet som et sosialt vesen må delta for å få utvikle en egen identitet, finne sin stemme og lære å utrykke sine følelser og behov. Retten til deltakelse er med på å sikre barnets innflytelse over eget liv, sine muligheter og til å ta kompetente beslutninger.

This chapter sets out to answer a number of questions concerning the relationship between media and political executives in political communication, centring on how the exchange and power balance between journalists and their political sources differ depending on whether the interaction is formal or informal. The results are based on 43 qualitative interviews with journalists who cover national politics and governmental press advisors in Lithuania and Sweden. The findings indicate that formal interaction is advantageous for professional sources in agenda-based news. In non-agenda news and in times of political conflict, journalists as well as some political sources prefer informal interaction. While top political leaders and their press advisors are most often isolated from informal interactions, other political sources might gain from communicating informally. Finally, the results show that media–source exchange in informal relationships reaches beyond “information in exchange for publicity” and that informal relationships allow participants to step outside their traditional professional roles.

The Nordic countries have continuously ranked at the top of international assessments with regards to SDG implementation. This does not mean, however, that sustainable development in the Nordic Region has been fully achieved. Each country continues to face numerous challenges, including unsustainable consumption and production patterns, the effects of a changing climate, as well as rebalancing our societies after multiple crises marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing recovery, energy supply shortages in Europe and the war in Ukraine. According to the European Sustainable Development Report for 2022, the world is currently not on track to achieving most of the SDGs, underscoring the importance of the Nordic Region’s ability and need to reverse this trend and enhance progress on multiple fronts. 

The purpose of this edition is to update and compile an overview of the 2030 Agenda efforts in the Nordic Region with relevant and accessible information. It describes central policy decisions, actors and national structures in ongoing SDG work, and highlights inspiring examples of national networks and societal participation. 

The processes and structures for SDG implementation show that the Nordic countries each have their respective strengths and challenges. The ways in which national priorities and strategic plans have been put in place and how progress is monitored vary, as does the interaction between government, parliament, and societal actors. What is increasingly noticeable is the effort to improve stakeholder engagement, and there is an increasing data collection consistency on part of the national statistics agencies that have been given responsibility for following up on national SDG indicators. This work is also reflected in the voluntary national reviews, which make the reporting even more comprehensive in scope. 

Drawing on 21 interviews with political and media elites, this chapter argues that political executive-media relationships in Finland are characterised by a system of interdependence between politicians and journalists. Political advisors play a central role, while the civil servant media staff seek to maintain a neutral position. One distinct feature of the Finnish system is a high degree of access to political sources. Alongside this openness, there is a culture of informal interaction, as the management of pre-public information is crucial for politicians, journalists and civil servants. Relationships between journalists and political sources are generally good, with both sides describing a shift towards more professional and ethical conduct. Occasional antagonisms do arise nonetheless, with essentially each prime minister having phases of poor media relations at some point. While social media allows politicians to bypass the media, it is still far from surpassing the importance of traditional media coverage.

In this book, media scholars from a number of countries and cultures provide a more global view of the 2003 Iraq War and the War on Terror than is usually present in the news media. This book will assist journalists and media workers to reflect upon their own tradecraft and to make improvements when motivated.

Never before has it been more urgent for media researchers and journalists to engage in explorations and reflections on the conditions for improved war journalism. News reports cross national borders and continents in no time; live images of war scenes constitute a competitive advantage in the struggle for television audience; war propaganda and concept management saturate the professional fields where war correspondents try to make a living under death threats; and blatant lies are promoted by democratic leaders in order to win the public opinion for military adventures. The recent wars, in particular the 2003 Iraq War, are remarkable because of the number of ‘big lies’ that have accompanied them and because these lies have been well exposed and criticised in public.

For media research it is urgent to analyse some crucial aspects of media reflexivity based on the cumulative experiences from the recent conflicts. This book contributes to increased reflexivity by rich insights into how the Iraq War was related to national policies and local conditions. The authors have also studied whether or not the media elaborate on their own role. Self-criticism on the part of the media and journalists is a virtue of utmost importance in war reporting, not least from a democratic and professional point of view.

The 'War on Terror' declared by President George W Bush after the terrible events of September 11, 2001, has already had profound consequences on world political developments and global opinion. Media are - either actively or passively - actors in the resultant propaganda war and can as such influence public opinion. Globalization processes imply transnational mediated flows of meaning at the same time as the perceived meanings vary between cultures and countries. That media divide globally in the coverage of the War on Terror is not only obvious when comparing American and Arab media, but also between the U.S. and Western European media. This has partly to do with the difficult demands on journalists and media as to how to manage the flood of propaganda and the threats to professional integrity and standards.How images of the U.S. and the Others are portrayed by media in various countries after September 11 and the attack on Afghanistan is at the focus of this volume. The book contains a collection of essays by media researchers and journalists with backgrounds from a number of countries.

This innovative volume is the first systematic study of civil society elites in Southeast Asia (and indeed anywhere in the world). Spanning two previously separate areas of research – civil society and elites – it sheds new light on power inequalities within and beyond civil society, identifies different types of elite formation and elite interaction within and beyond civil society, and traces interactions and integration with elite groups from party politics, the state, and the business sector. This tightly edited volume, produced by a research team ranging from senior scholars to promising younger academics, analyses how such processes are influenced by reliance on foreign funding and explores how they play out in two settings – where the political space for civil society is generally shrinking (Cambodia) and where it is relatively expanding (Indonesia). However, the volume offers more than a rethinking of civil society in Cambodia and Indonesia; it looks beyond. It thus challenges a view of civil society entities as relatively isolated from the state and from political and economic society, revealing power relations that link them. Suggesting a new direction for civil society research, the book will be of great interest to the many researchers working on civil society, elites and contemporary Southeast Asian politics as well as those engaged in other areas of society in Cambodia and Indonesia. Policymakers, donors and not least civil society activists themselves will find the volume highly relevant to their work.

In research on mediatisation, the political system is often described as a victim of media logics. According to this theory, the logics of politics are overruled by media logics, and the political institutions become dependent on the media. This chapter questions this dichotomy between the two logics and asks to what extent media logics are used by political actors to achieve political goals. Based on the results from interviews in four countries, the relationship between politics and the media is discussed from both perspectives. The chapter also discusses different logics and functions of the media and describes a complex picture of interdependency and mutual interests. It concludes that new types of political instrumentalisation of the media are developed in the close relationship between the news media and their sources in government.

The nation is one of the most resilient concepts in our understanding of the world and its societies. Politics, sports and cultural events, in news as well as in fiction, are largely structured by the national logic. Internationalism – be it in representation, production or consumption – does not challenge the privileged position of the nation. Globalising processes do offer an alternative to the primacy of the nation, but have so far been unable to overcome its dominance. The nation’s resilience is, in part, due to its continuing relevance: ontologically, it offers a sense of territorial stability and security while epistemologically it can supply a sense of familiarity and order in the global landscape. This volume provides cutting edge analysis of old and new architectures of the nation and its mediated presence in everyday life. In an age of alleged globalisation, nations and nation-states have been claimed to be out-dated. However, the proclamation of the end of the nation (-state) has been premature. Eschewing fashionable obituaries for media, geography and the nation, leading media scholars explore the complex ideological and spatial changes in contemporary understandings of the nation. The nation can be seen as a nodal point of media discourse. Hence the power, the politics and the poetics of the nation will be the subject of this book.

Denne rapporten er utarbeidet av Nordens velferdssenter (NVC) på grunnlag av Det andre nordiske ekspertseminaret om arbeidsliv og funksjonshinder (Oslo 19. april 2017). Ekspertseminaret var finansiert av Nordisk ministerråds embetsmannskomite for arbeidsliv (EK-A), og ble arrangert av NVC i samarbeid med Kompetansesenter for arbeidsinkludering på Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus.

Hovedmålet med seminaret var bidra med et faglig fundert funksjonshinderperspektiv til arbeidet med Nordisk ministerråds samarbeidsprogram for arbeidslivssektoren 2018-2021. Samarbeidsprogrammet skal beskrive de nordiske landenes hovedutfordringer på arbeidslivsfeltet, og stille opp målsetninger innenfor delområdene arbeidsmarked, arbeidsmiljø og arbeidsrett. Programmet er planlagt vedtatt høsten 2017.

Denne rapporten presenterer anbefalinger om prioriteringer i programmet, og anbefalinger om konkrete tiltak innenfor rammen av programmet. Tiltakene vil også kunne inngå i en eventuell ny handlingsplan for nordisk samarbeid om funksjonshinder.

This working paper is based on two separately commissioned projects that Nordregio carried out during 2015–2016. The first project was commissioned by the Nordic Working Group for Green Growth: Sustainable Urban Regions set up under the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Committee of Senior Officials for Regional Policy (EK-R). This project relates to Chapters 2 to 5 of the present working paper, which describe the policy details and inner workings of urban contractualism in Norway, Sweden and Finland. The second project was commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation. The objective was to review the experiences in France and England with different forms of contractualism. This relates to Chapters 6 to 8, which incorporate additional comparisons and critique of urban policies in France and, especially, the UK. The projects were a collaborative undertaking, with a number of national experts at Nordregio involved. Lukas Smas was the overall co-ordinator and editor. Liisa Perjo was responsible for Finland, Christian Fredricsson contributed the Norwegian part and Christian Dymén (now at Trivector) was responsible for Sweden. Julien Grunfelder was responsible for France while Timothy Andersson (currently a PhD Student at Tallinn University) wrote the UK section alongside contributions to the introduction and conclusion.

The paper has the dual objective of contributing to theory development as well as to the debate about the added value of EU Cohesion Policy. Experimentalist governance theory suggests that a virtuous feedback loop between policy design and implementation can the input- and output-legitimacy of policy making. EU Cohesion Policy formally resembles this experimentalist setting, but persistent debates about its added value suggest that the virtuous loop is blocked. The paper uses new institutionalism theory to systematically identify theoretical explanations for this blockage. It argues that the experimentalist link between organizational structure, pooling of experiences, greater participation, and policy learning is highly precarious. First, the rational-choice perspective suggests that the link rests on the optimistic assumption of a common utility function among the participating actors. Moreover, the structural funds provide strong incentives for grant-seeking. Second, the discursive perspective shows that the identification of shared interests depends on highly demanding speech conditions. Third, the sociological perspective highlights that the evaluation of information is socially conditioned. Therefore, learning may be based on fallacious assumptions and lead to undesired results. The paper substantiates these insights with empirical evidence from one case of institutionalized cross-border cooperation in East Central Europe.

Beneath the protest marches, rallies and sieges dividing Thailand in recent times are more subtle pressures that emerge from everyday encounters involving cultural notions of rank and hierarchy. These are the focus of this highly accessible ethnographic study, which ventures beyond the barricades to explore the connections between inequality, space and social life in modern-day Bangkok.

The author argues that the notion of an urban–rural divide obscures a far more complex reality linking city and countryside in reciprocal relations within both urban and national systems of status and class. Global market forces have increased the emphasis on material wealth in contemporary status relations and exacerbated pre-existing inequalities informed by a premodern system of status ranking called sakdina. This has compounded the challenges facing the growing urban middle classes and further marginalised rural and economically disadvantaged Thais.

Nordiska ministerrådet ha analyserat data från intervjuer med invånare i Norden för att undersöka hur synen på demokratin och det demokratiska deltagandet förändrats sedan början på 2000-talet.

Undersökningen visar att intresset för politik har ökat i Norden sedan 2002, samtidigt som det inte går att se någon entydig trend vad gäller förtroendet förde nationella parlamenten och tilliten till politiker. Jämfört med övriga Europa har nordborna ett högt förtroende för EU-parlamentet. Intresset för politik är också större i Norden än i övriga Europa.

Denna rapport är författad av Nordiska ministerrådets analys- och statistikenhet. Enhetens rapportserie ska belysa aktuella ämnen som är centrala utifrån ett nordiskt perspektiv.

The Nordic Council of Ministers has analysed data from interviews with residents of the Nordic Region to explore how democratic participation and perceptions of democracy have changed since the beginning of the 2000s.

The study shows that although interest in politics has increased in the region since 2002, there is no discernible trend with regard to trust in national parliaments or trust in politicians. Compared with the rest of Europe, those living in the Nordic Region have a high level of trust in the European Parliament. Interest in politics in the region is also greater than in the rest of Europe.

This report is authored by the policy analysis unit at the Secretariat to the Nordic Council of Ministers. It forms part of the unit’s report series exploring current key topics from a Nordic perspective.

Digitalisation is impacting various facets of society and holds great potential in radically changing the ways businesses are operating. Despite these radical changes, little has been said about the impact of digitalisation on micro-, small and medium-sized businesses within the marine sector.

To close this gap, this complimentary report, Is the coast clear? The role of digitalisation for enabling blue growth in the cross-border region of Svinesund is a follow-up study of Randal and Berlina’s report Governing the digital transition in Nordic regions: The human element (2019).

The latter report was written on behalf of the Nordic thematic group for innovative and resilient regions 2017–2020, under the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Committee of Civil Servants for Regional Affairs.

The present, complimentary study on digitalisation and blue growth has been developed on behalf of the Nordic thematic working group’s member Svinesundskommittén (The Svinesund committee).

The study explores what role digitalisation plays in the context of business development and growth in the marine sector in the Svinesund area; the different challenges and opportunities that surface in this context; and what role the Svinesund mega-region may play for the future of blue growth.

Smart Specialisation (S3) as a policy tool has quickly been adopted across the European Union and in the Nordic countries, but the implementation of S3 is not uniformly adopted. What is the added value of smart specialisation implementation in Nordic regions?

This policy brief explores the adoption of S3 strategies in the Nordic Region. Strengthened governance structures, clear ownership to S3 processes, and understanding S3 as a process in its own right are some of our key recommendations. We also explore if there is a Nordic Model of S3; A highly compatible Nordic innovation environment may suggest a favourable positioning for maximising the added value of S3 in Nordic regions. This research is part of the work of the Nordic Thematic Group on Innovative and Resilient Regions established by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Det nordiske samarbejde er en af verdens mest omfattende regionale samarbejdsformer. Samarbejdet omfatter Danmark, Finland, Island, Norge og Sverige samt Færøerne, Grønland og Åland.

Det nordiske samarbejde er både politisk, økonomisk og kulturelt forankret og en vigtig medspiller i det europæiske og internationale samarbejde. Det nordiske fællesskab arbejder for et stærkt Norden i et stærkt Europa.

Det nordiske samarbejde ønsker at styrke nordiske og regionale interesser og værdier i en global omverden. Fælles værdier landene imellem er med til at styrke Nordens position som en af verdens mest innovative og konkurrencedygtige regioner.