What role does social equality play in a functioning democracy? Is representation important in politics, media and culture?

Magnus Dahlstedt, Professor of Social Work and writer, makes a stop in the studio during his current book tour and talks about the effects of inequality in politics and education. Based on his research on segregated cities and vulnerable groups, he highlights the importance of representation and social equality.

Tune in to hear Magnus’ reflections on a key aspect of democracy – and perhaps a few tips on how to ‘bubble hop’ or wake up students with the help of rock music!

“I’m a little bit shocked!” Tune in to hear about sexual abuse of power, an often-overlooked form of corruption.

In this engaging episode, associate professor Silje Lundgren from the department of Thematic Studies talks about current research on sexual corruption as a threat against democratic procedure and bodily integrity. What is sexual abuse of power, where can we find it, and why has it not been widely recognised as corruption until very recently? How can it be prevented – and do we need to shift focus to do so?

For further reading, the International Association of Women Judges that is mentioned in the episode can be found here, and the blog post on sexual corruption by Silje and her colleagues is available here.

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast

Is the introduction of artificial intelligence and robots in the public sector an opportunity or a challenge for public values and for democracy? In this episode of Aspects of Democracy, Daniel Toll, PhD student in information systems, talks about his field work in municipalities and his newly finished thesis on technologies in the frontline of digitalization in public service.

What can we do to safe-guard public values in modern public service and decision-making? Is artificial intelligence the road to salvation or the beginning of the Matrix – or none of the above? And what is it really like to have a robot colleague? Tune in to hear more!

Information on Daniel’s upcoming thesis defence that is mentioned in the episode can be found here.

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast

Who are the public servants, and what impact does their work have in our lives? Are they perhaps devoted and justservants of the people - guardians of democracy – or are they rather dishonest and arbitrary?

Based on earlier research and on her own research on street-level bureaucracy, PhD student Helena Iacobaeus argues that reality is more complex than these two extremes, but that there are things we can do to promote good sides of public institutions and create incentives for public servants as guardians of democracy.

Tune in to listen to the summer episode of Aspects of Democracy! After that, the next episode will be released on September 1st. Have a nice summer!

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast

Are literature and culture important to democracy? Is the public library a book storage or a democratic living room - or is it perhaps a flexible resource as well as a room?

In this episode of Aspects of Democracy, I meet Johanna Vernqvist, associate professor in comparative literature, and we talk about the role of libraries and reading, partly based on her fascinating research at the library of Löfstad Castle and the women in and behind the book collection.

Tune in to hear about poetry, empowerment and age-old leatherbound books!

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

Photo credit: Anna Nilsen

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast

All year round, democracy is repeatedly and discreetly upheld in local council meetings. But what happens if these meetings disappear as a physical place? Fredrik Garcia, PhD student in political science, is writing a thesis on city council meetings and shares results on effects that COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing had on local decision-making.

This episode touches on big topics such as the birth of democracy and gender differences in floor time in politics, but also mentions the little things such as the upside and woe of starting a PhD with earlier work life experiences.

Read the article mentioned in the episode on council meetings during the pandemic.

Tune in to hear about the local political arena – or what the ancient Greek might call the Agora – of today!

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast

Podcast anniversary! We celebrate by looking forward into the future. What we decide today and how we live our lives will also affect coming generations. Veronica Brodén Gyberg, associate professor at Linköping university, talks about sustainability and about her research on preconditions for just climate adaptation. The end of the cross-disciplinary project on just transition in Sweden mentioned in the episode was marked by a roundtable, panel and arts exhibition.

The exhibition was created together with citizens of the studied places. Another example of Veronica’s engagement in cross-disciplinary work is the research project on sustainable management of Amazon forest which is a collaboration between natural and social scientists to explore win-win solutions for resource utilization and climate mitigation.

Join us to hear her reflect on the world we create for future generations!

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast

In this episode of Aspects of Democracy, Professor Claudia Tazreiter reflects on a fundamental right in modern democracy – freedom of speech. How can we safeguard this right and are there limits where freedom of speech might conflict with other rights? Based on her work in the Scholars at Risk network, an international network for protection of threatened scholars and promotion of academic freedom, she also talks about the importance of freedom to study, research, and teach without facing threats and oppression.

Claudia’s research focuses on the impacts of forced and irregular migration on human rights culture, the role of civil society in social change, and gender in migration. She is also currently Swedish representative in the European Advocacy Committee. Tune in to hear her reflect on a key aspect of democracy! 

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast

What is the meaning of citizenship and is this kind of “nation-state membership” still relevant in a global world? Dr. Mariana S. Gustafsson, assistant professor in political science joins the podcast to talk about citizenship as a concept and about the individual citizen’s voice, choice and engagement in relation to the state.

The poem Helena is spontaneously mistranslating in the episode is Nils Ferlin’s “Si världen är förklarad”. Join us to hear Mariana’s reflections on citizenship!

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast

Today’s episode focuses on trust. What makes us trust each other, and how can the level of trust in society affect democracy? Are there differences between age groups or between cities and rural areas in this aspect?

Based on his research, Dr Richard Öhrvall, assistant professor at the Centre for Local Government Studies at LiU, talks about trust between people in local communities but also about the importance of stable and fair institutions that can form a base for trust among the population. Ring in 2024 with our New Year’s episode!

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The podcast series is brought to you by the political science unit at Linköping University and hosted by Helena Iacobaeus, PhD student in political science. For questions or suggestions on topics, e-mail [email protected].

Intro music credit: ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

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Listen to more podcasts from Linkoping University:

https://liu.se/en/podcast