Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: What are the main similarities and differences between students of
journalism in the Nordic countries? Is it possible to speak of a common
Nordic journalistic identity with common professional ideals and motives
among the next generation of Nordic journalists? Are the differences
found related more to national differences or to intra-national
differences according to the various educational models for the schools?
What about gender differences? Do such differences constitute a
“constant” factor of difference in journalistic ideals and preferences
across the nations, or do they vary?

The data is based on a quantitative web survey of every new
journalism student at 19 Nordic schools of journalism in autumn 2005,
where 600 students responded (64% of the population).

The main focus of the study is on be on social recruitment, their motivations for studying journalism, their adherence to various journalistic ideals,
their view on what a ‘good journalism education’ should consist of, and
their preferred future work place.

The results are analyzed with reference to other international studies to provide a cross-cultural perspective.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The purpose of this piece is twofold, first, to explore the social construction of a Nordic-Baltic sphere of community, and, secondly, to evaluate its conceptual implications for IR debates on new and more inclusive forms of political community. The paper commences by exploring the social incubation of the Nordic-Baltic sphere of community, in particular by examining the values, norms and specific accounts of interest that underpin it. In doing so it explores to what extent the Nordic states have been successful in adopting a new and more all-encompassing form of ?collective identity? and whether they have been willing to re-conceptualise their sense of obligation and identity to include the three Baltic states. A key argument developed throughout the paper is that the creation of such new forms of political community require agents to adjust their distinctive national loyalties because they may obstruct efforts to pursue new forms of solidarity and collective identity. This conception of community differs from that of pure communitarians who hold that moral agents are situated selves and that their sense of morality and solidarity is confined to their co-nationals. Rather it rests upon Linklater?s (1998) advocacy of new forms of political community that respect national loyalties while also supporting social and cultural diversity and whereby ethical principles and issues of justice can be negotiated through equal political dialogue. Emphasis upon equal partnership has been an influential feature in Nordic-Baltic relations since the onset. Community building of this kind is in line with wider developments in post-Cold War Europe, where emphasis has been given to the creation of new and more inclusive spheres of community. A key objective here is to show how the Nordic-Baltic sphere of community can contribute to this theoretical debate by making a normative case for the construction of new and more inclusive forms of political community in Europe and elsewhere, embracing both policy elites and civil society (Linklater, 1998). In order to substantiate these claims the paper explores the Nordic states? post-Cold War support for the Baltic states? re-entry into the international community. The paper concludes by arguing that although the Nordic states have made numerous efforts to extend their sense of obligation and identity to the three Baltic states they display the same inclination as any other modern states to provide for their own citizens before seeing to the needs of others. Thus they adhere to the principle that the ?primary duty? of states is ?to pursue the interests of their peoples but in the context of a set of wider duties towards other states, and through other states, the rest of humanity? (Brown 2001:26). In so doing they embrace a thin cosmopolitanism which entails being exceptionally mindful of the needs of other states while privileging the welfare needs of their own citizens. More importantly, such thin cosmopolitanism is consistent with Linklater?s (1998) advocacy of new forms of political community that respect national loyalties while arguing for obligation across borders.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper deals with the challenge which the Nordic first-wave feminists (19th – early 20th C) posed to the contemporary religious knowledge of marriage. Even though the protestant Nordic State Churches had for centuries relied on the Lutheran interpretation that had detached marriage from the realm of the sacred (i.e., regarding marriage as a sacrament) and treated it, if not secular, at least a social and contingent institution, with the right to divorce, the dominant notion of marital relationship (as well as of women´s social roles) was nevertheless inherently patriarchal. Furthermore, women were excluded form the interpretations of religious knowledge (theology), however much it was underlined in Protestantism that each individual has the right and even the duty to form a personal connection to religious knowledge by reading the sacred texts in their mother tongue, not just by relying on authoritarian instruction. The first-wave feminists in the 19th century were not against religion as such, in fact many of them were deeply religious, but they challenged the patriarchal truths by arguing from the standpoint of the universal humanity and the fundamental value of each individual irrespective of social hierarchies. These feminists were active especially in revivalist and temperance movements but also within the feminist organizations that together with progressive politicians (radical liberals) and lawyers (realists who wanted to divorce law from moral and religious values) formed the core of progressive forces aiming at greater individualization and private autonomy in the emerging market economy and democratic nation state. Finally, even the Churches accepted the change towards a secular regulation of marriage. The challenge was based on the notion of women as universal individual knowers who claimed the right to be treated as capable of studying the religious canon and giving it a new interpretation on the basis of equality. Such argumentation aimed – in the true tradition of Protestantism itself – at an eradication of the historical layers of religious interpretation that had distanced the faith from the ‘original’ Christian ideology about the universal equality of human beings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: There is little clarity regarding which factors regulate states’ choice of where and how to participate in interventions, led or authorised by the UN. This poster, which is an extract from a book, focuses on media impact on such decisions. The underlying assumption of media impact on such foreign policy is that domestic public opinion can set the decision-making agenda, for example in reaction to humanitarian disaster or deteriorating human rights conditions, or in response to national policy failure.

A specific model of the CNN effect is elaborated, and applied to decision processes in Denmark and Sweden regarding participation in all UN-interventions into intra-state conflicts in the 1990s. Moreover, I examine, whether media are used to manufacture consent for government foreign policy, subsequent to such decisions.

Two methods are combined in the empirical investigation: First, 10.000 news items from TV and newspaper coverage of the 16 conflicts in each of the two states are content analysed in order to establish whether national media are able to take on an influential role. Second, key foreign- and defence policy decision-makers are interviewed, and asked to rate the importance of media and public opinion, along with other factors, which are assumed to be influential.

Results show that media do not play a role in state decisions on whether or not to participate in UN operations. Also, media are not used for manufacturing consent for government decisions, but do, to a certain degree, index themselves to the prevailing government foreign policy. This challenges much of the existing literature on media impact on democratic foreign policy, which is primarily Anglo-American.

The results indicate that the CNN effect is best understood as a complex concept, which is strongly influenced by a range of other factors. Hence, the conditions under which media can push states into interventions, or pull them out of running operations are highly context specific, and media influence on states’ decisions to participate in UN-interventions should be regarded as limited.

By discussing the CNN effect in wider terms than has been done before, and undertaking extensive empirical investigation of hypotheses regarding media’s relations to foreign policy, the overall aim of the study is generalisation about these relations. The book combines a comparative design, with both traditional quantitative methods and qualitative methods. Moreover, by challenging the notion of media effects on foreign policy, specifically in relation to (humanitarian) intervention, the book constitutes a forceful contribution to research on intervention and conflict resolution.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: ILO-Convention No. 169 is the only legally binding instrument that distinctly concerns itself with indigenous peoples? rights. The Convention aims at protecting indigenous peoples and their cultures and languages from vanishing with special actions by the governmental authority. However, this Convention has its limitations because as of now it is only ratified by 17 countries. My dissertation examines the recognition and implementation of ILO-Convention from the perspectives of international politics and international law with a comparative approach to Nordic countries of which Norway and Denmark have ratified the Convention, while Sweden and Finland are considering it. The comparison to Australia would be valuable both theoretically and empirically. The dissertation will consist of four articles with several common denominators; the concepts of land [rights], culture, environment, identity and power [politics]. The research has a multidisciplinary approach by using the methods of political sciences and international law by examining the role of state treaties and the preliminary works of law as sources of law making. The discourse and rhetorical analysis are relevant methods to express the situation in the Nordic countries, where the national law-making processes related to land and water rights have been strongly influenced by political debate. In relation to the Convention questions about ?indigenousness?, the construction of the ?Saami? and ?Sápmi? are relevant, but still remaining open and unclear concepts. The conflicts between states and indigenous peoples related to land rights could be seen as disagreements of different values and means, and as a battle of power. The study also emphasises the role of indigenous peoples as important actors among the states, since the new world order has changed the agenda of international system. The study has a constructivist approach, which also refers to international conventions as socially constructed regimes, where for example economic rationality cannot be divorced from political realities. For states the areas occupied by indigenous peoples form usually an important part of their (natural) resources. Keywords: Treaty interpretation, constructivism, human rights, sovereignty, self-determination