Papers by Michael Strange
Frontiers in Public Health, May 19, 2022
Frontiers in human dynamics, Sep 28, 2023
Strange M and Askanius T () Migrant-focused inequity, distrust and an erosion of care within Swed... more Strange M and Askanius T () Migrant-focused inequity, distrust and an erosion of care within Sweden's healthcare and media discourses during COVID-. Front. Hum. Dyn. :. doi: .
The international journal of health, wellness & society, 2023
Encyclopedia of Global Studies, Oct 5, 2012
Geopolitics, Jul 1, 2013
What does it mean when activist networks describe themselves as 'European' or 'Global'? Existing ... more What does it mean when activist networks describe themselves as 'European' or 'Global'? Existing studies into the geographic character of such networks have focused on the interplay between multiple 'levels'. However, there is a need for greater research on the discursive function played by geographic descriptors within the formation of activist networks. This article examines the use of multiple geographic descriptors to articulate a particular activist network-the 'Seattle to Brussels' (S2B) network-consisting of European-based groups contesting the form of multilateral trade governance embodied in the WTO. To map out how groups forged relations with one another under a 'European' identity, the article applies a discourse theoretical analysis to extensive empirical data including interviews with activists and participant observation at key events. The article has relevance to understanding both how transnational protest networks are formed and the role of multiple geographic signifiers in global politics.
AI and ethics, Mar 14, 2024
y privacy and the possibility to opt out from data sharing such that public distrust could also p... more y privacy and the possibility to opt out from data sharing such that public distrust could also prevent usage of the technology [3]. To help design policies that allow us to use AI appropriately in healthcare, the article provides a model for how to treat hype in AI healthcare-both positive and negative. As argued here, we need to bring the everyday experiences of those directly involved in healthcare-including healthcare professionals, patients, civil society, and others-into the development and critical review of AI. In so doing, we can better remember that AI is always embedded within societal power relations and, consequently, whilst it is important to focus on building the best AI possible we can never make it work as desired unless we consider the broader systems in which it operates and how they may need to be adapted by, for example, creating new forms of checks and balances to counter problems when the technology produces sub-optimal outcomes. 2 Hype as disempowering We see significant hype in AI in all sectors-from the boom in firms buying up internet domain names with 'AI' and seeing their stock rise after renaming themselves accordingly despite no other change [4], to the media's excessive coverage of Sam Altman's resignation and subsequent return at OpenAI, and even a church dedicated to worshipping AI [5]. Fear that AI might pose an existential threat to humanity's survival-either 'Terminator' style deciding to Michael Strange
Routledge eBooks, Mar 9, 2016
Development and Change, May 1, 2009
In their one page foreword to this large format 'handbook' type study, Helene Gayle and Raymond O... more In their one page foreword to this large format 'handbook' type study, Helene Gayle and Raymond Offenheiser, Presidents respectively of CARE USA and Oxfam America, reflect on the 'conscious choices' made by these two NGOs to adopt rights-based approaches (RBAs) in their work. They observe, as do most studies on RBAs, that
Writing Global Trade Governance operationalises a key post-structuralist methodology in order to ... more Writing Global Trade Governance operationalises a key post-structuralist methodology in order to expand understanding on the institution at the heart of the global political economy. Despite the WT ...
AI & SOCIETY
The term ‘artificial intelligence’ has arguably come to function in political discourse as, what ... more The term ‘artificial intelligence’ has arguably come to function in political discourse as, what Laclau called, an ‘empty signifier’. This article traces the shifting political discourse on AI within three key institutions of global governance–OHCHR, WHO, and UNESCO–and, in so doing, highlights the role of ‘crisis’ moments in justifying a series of pivotal re-articulations. Most important has been the attachment of AI to the narrative around digital automation in human healthcare. Greatly enabled by the societal context of the pandemic, all three institutions have moved from being critical of the unequal power relations in the economy of AI to, today, reframing themselves primarily as facilitators tasked with helping to ensure the application of AI technologies. The analysis identifies a shift in which human health and healthcare is framed as in a ‘crisis’ to which AI technology is presented as the remedy. The article argues the need to trace these discursive shifts as a means by wh...
Den här rapporten ger en sammanfattning av de seminarier som organiserades under våren 2021 av PH... more Den här rapporten ger en sammanfattning av de seminarier som organiserades under våren 2021 av PHEDKommissionen för framtiden för hälso- och sjukvården efter covid-19, som bjöd in till vittnesmål från hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal, tjänstemän, tankesmedjor, forskare, civilsamhället och andra intresserade parter baserat på de erfarenheter de fått och lärt sig av under pandemin. De vittnesmål som framfördes kom från många olika geografska platser och många olika nivåer, vilket gjorde dem relevanta både för Sverige och globalt. De fastställer fera centrala rekommendationer för att skydda och förbättra folkhälsan. Dessa rekommendationer både kompletterar och i hög grad utökar de rekommendationer som togs fram i den första rapporten, som var mer fokuserad på Sverige (”Ojämlikhet i samhället gör oss sårbara för pandemier”) och baserad på vittnesmål från hösten 2020, och som kan nås via: https://phed.uni.mau.se/. Den stora mängd erfarenheter som sammanfattas här går långt utöver pandemiperi...
This report summarises the Spring 2021 sessions of the PHED Commission on the Future of Healthcar... more This report summarises the Spring 2021 sessions of the PHED Commission on the Future of Healthcare Post Covid-19, which invited testimony from healthcare practitioners, civil servants, thinktanks, researchers, civil society, and other interested parties based on their experiences learnt during the pandemic. The evidence presented came from multiple geographies and levels, making it relevant both to Sweden and globally. It identifes several key recommendations for protecting and improving public health. These recommendations supplement and greatly expand upon those identifed in the report (‘Societal inequity makes us vulnerable to pandemics’) based on testimony from Fall/Autumn 2020, which can be accessed via: https://phed.uni.mau.se/. The wealth of experience summarized here goes well beyond the pandemic period, providing ideas and practical guidance for protecting and strengthening human health to be more resilient in the face of future crises.
Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, Aug 1, 2011
Global governance is not democratic. Neither is it entirely undemocratic. For example, within the... more Global governance is not democratic. Neither is it entirely undemocratic. For example, within the World Trade Organization (WTO) formally all Memberstates have equal power over decision-making. The WTO's dispute settlement body acts to enforce the rule of law over so-called 'power politics'. The WTO's secretariat organises regular meetings with civil society groups. And, resources are spent on facilitating transparency, including putting a vast amount of official documentation online. However, quite simply there is vast power asymmetry between WTO Member-states. This article side-steps the classic response to such dilemmas-where the debate hinges on how much or little the institution is able to ameliorate realpolitik-and, instead, asks what role the vestiges of 'democracy', as defined here, play in the WTO. Drawing on the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, amongst others, the argument is made that the discourse of democracy embodied in the WTO, as the article demonstrates, reflects the wider process through which the institution is legitimated as the body of global trade politics. This has implications for understanding not only how global governance is discursively formed, but also whether civil society groups critiquing the WTO threaten or may, by accepting the premise of its predominance in global trade politics, be actually strengthening the WTO. Democracy has currency even where governance shifts to a level lacking its own demos. Rooted in national territories with clearly defined borders and citizenship, democracy has however managed to claim a new relevance in the world of global governance. The findings presented in this article are in answer to a paradox noted within the social science literature on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and termed here as the democratic dilemma of the WTO. This dilemma may be summed up as 'To what extent is the WTO democratic?', and is provoked by the dual presence of 'democratic' aspects within the WTO institutional structure and 'power asymmetry' 1 between the Member-states. However, as the article argues, rather than asking 'to what extent is the WTO democratic?', much can be gained by asking what role apparent vestiges of 'democracy' play within the discursive constitution of a global political entity such as the WTO.
The International Trade Committee have launched a new inquiry to investigate the appropriate leve... more The International Trade Committee have launched a new inquiry to investigate the appropriate level of transparency and scrutiny of trade strategy and negotiations as the UK begins establishing a post-Brexit trade regime. The Committee will draw on the approaches taken by similar nations and trading blocs to inform its conclusions
Frontiers in Public Health, 2020
Refugees are already a vulnerable group in society and are in a stressful situation due to their ... more Refugees are already a vulnerable group in society and are in a stressful situation due to their often uncertain legal status in seeking asylum and integration in the new society after migration. Refugees are, in general, at greater risk of poor health outcomes when contracting Covid-19, exacerbated by poor living conditions and difficulties in accessing healthcare. The longer-term social consequences of the pandemic also disproportionately impact refugees, including social isolation, unemployment, and difficulties to obtain correct health information. The aim of this paper is to review the social and health consequences that Covid-19 has brought to the refugees residing in Sweden. This needs to be emphasized in order to mitigate against these likely consequences and improve the overall well-being among such a highly vulnerable group in society. As Covid-19 demonstrates, human health needs to be understood holistically, meaning that the vulnerability of any individuals, or even nations, is a vulnerability for the whole population requiring urgent action.
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - SHS, Nov 5, 2022
SAGE Publications, Inc. eBooks, 2012
This document will continue to evolve as the IR expands. Additional guidelines will be drafted, a... more This document will continue to evolve as the IR expands. Additional guidelines will be drafted, as needed, over the coming months.
Collaborative Future-Making is a research platform at the Faculty of Culture and Society at Malmo... more Collaborative Future-Making is a research platform at the Faculty of Culture and Society at Malmö University that is concerned with how to envision, elaborate and prototype multiple, inclusive, and sustainable futures. The platform gathers around 20 researchers that share a methodological interest in how critical perspectives from the humanities and social sciences can be combined with the constructive and collaborative aspects of making and prototyping in design research. The research centers around two major themes: Critical imagination, which focuses on how basic assumptions, norms and structures can be challenged to widen the perspectives on what can constitute socially, culturally, ecologically and economically sustainable and resilient futures. Collaborative engagements, which focuses on how we can set up more inclusive collaborations to prototype and discuss alternative futures, engaging not only professionals and policy makers but also citizens and civil society. During 2019 the research group set out to make a shared glossary for collaborative future-making. The glossary is multiple in purpose and exists in several versions. Hopefully there will be more to come. At first, the making and articulation of the glossary was used within the research group as an exercise to share concepts that we found central to collaborative future-making, coming from different disciplines. This published version of the glossary was assembled to be used during a workshop called Imagining Collaborative Future-Making, which gathered a group of international researchers from different disciplines. The collection of concepts reflects the heterogeneous and diverse character of the research group and a strong belief in that plurality regarding ontologies and epistemologies will be crucial to be able to handle the multiple uncertainties and complex challenges we have to face in the future. Some of the concepts are already well established within different research communities, but gain a specific meaning in relation to the research area. Others are more preliminary attempts to advance our understanding or probe into new potential practices within collaborative future-making. In that sense the concepts in the glossary are well situated and grounded in past and ongoing research within this research group, at the same time as they are meant to suggest, propose and point towards practices and approaches yet to come. The concepts in this glossary are not only meant to be descriptive but also performative. In that sense, assembling and circulating this glossary is part of collaborative future-making. As pointed out by Michelle Westerlaken in her articulation of “Doing Concepts” (see page 15), “...without proposing, critiquing, or working towards a common or uncommon understanding of certain concepts, it becomes impossible to ‘make futures’ in any deliberate fashion.
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Papers by Michael Strange