Papers by Karl Magnus Johansson
Frontiers in Political Science, 2024
Although policy advisers have been amply studied, far fewer studies have examined media advisers.... more Although policy advisers have been amply studied, far fewer studies have examined media advisers. And, so far, adviser research has offered few insights into the relationship between these two key groups of political staffers. This article claims that media advisers have been empowered. It offers a rational functionalist explanation, which emphasises concerns about functional efficiency. Media generates functional pressures for the institutional strengthening of media advisers, solidifying their role. This argument is examined empirically through a case study of ministerial media adviser (MMA) empowerment in Sweden, based on interviews conducted among MMAs and political journalists. The data tell us that MMAs are on the rise, that they have become more controlling toward journalists and more assertive within ministerial staff. In the process, MMAs have come to constitute a category of their own as they have converged among themselves but diverged from policy advisers. The interview evidence indicates that MMAs also have a role in government policy, as the media has contributed to more integration of communication and policy, but additional research is needed. Overall, this work has implications for research on political communication, executives, and advisers-especially for debates about political professionals in government.
The Nordic Populist Radical Right: Voters, Ideology, and Political Interactions, 2024
Overall, the Nordic populist radical right (PRR) parties now connect more transnationally than th... more Overall, the Nordic populist radical right (PRR) parties now connect more transnationally than they did some decades ago. They have emerged as institutionalized and relevant political actors within their party systems and – except for the Norwegian Progress Party – increasingly interact bilaterally as well as multilaterally within the Nordic Council and the EU. Based on unique data from autobiographies of current and previous party leaders, interviews with key party politicians and officials, as well as a complete set of party magazines published since the late 1990s, the chapter explores whether the process of parties becoming more institutionalized and influential has been facilitated by the transnational linkages. More specifically, the chapter investigates whether a PRR party in one country has contributed to the success of a PRR party in another country by (a) providing economic and human resources; (b) serving as a role model in terms of ideology, organization, and strategy; and/or (c) facilitating processes of becoming an acceptable party. The chapter finds that there are both direct and indirect cross-national diffusion effects in relation to these three aspects.
Political Management in Practice: Lessons from around the Globe, 2024
This chapter examines prime ministerial media advisers (PMMAs), everything from the institutional... more This chapter examines prime ministerial media advisers (PMMAs), everything from the institutional setting to the core of their work. The chapter revolves around the phenomenon of everyday routine among political professionals, elucidating what keeps these political staffers preoccupied. What do they do? This chapter explores this question empirically through Swedish evidence, drawing on interviews and uncovering patterns in the data. The chapter offers a practice-oriented analysis of PMMAs that emphasizes the ordinary, the habitual and regular. Through their work they matter, indeed are indispensable, and their scope for influence is extensive. They are set to remain a key group of political staffers in government. The chapter holds lessons both for academic research and practice, in the context of political management, and carries wider implications for the study of national executives, advisory systems and processes of governing.
UI Paper, 2024
For decades, major Europarties like the EPP, PES, and ALDE have advocated increased EU integratio... more For decades, major Europarties like the EPP, PES, and ALDE have advocated increased EU integration, pushing for democratic and institutional strengthening. However, this paper, which features analysis of their 2024 election manifestos reveals, few concrete governance reform proposals. This may well indicate internal divisions. The Greens, though, standout with their federalist agenda. The paper explores factors influencing Europarties' stances and questions the commitment of national member parties. When national and EU-level campaigns diverge, it weakens Europarties' cohesion and influence.
European Parliament’s Political Groups in Turbulent Times, 2022
Europarties and the European Parliament (EP) political groups have decades of experience from con... more Europarties and the European Parliament (EP) political groups have decades of experience from constitutional reform processes. These partisan actors have influenced EU Treaty amendments while also proving inventive in designing new practices that have over time found their way into the Treaties. Drawing on interviews and parliamentary and party documents, this chapter explores the different avenues and strategies the three largest Europarties—European People’s Party, Party of European Socialists, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe—and their EP groups utilised for shaping the agenda of the Conference on the Future of Europe. It examines the distribution of power between Europarties and the EP groups and pays particular attention to dynamics inside the EP political groups, arguing that the agenda-setting stage of the Conference was strongly influenced by group leaders and other more senior, individual MEPs, many of whom are seasoned veterans of inter-institutional bargaining and EU constitutional development.
Politics & Policy, 2020
How governments manage their communication is one crucial indicator of the balance of power withi... more How governments manage their communication is one crucial indicator of the balance of power within the cabinet and inside the executive branch as a whole. Existing research offers few insights into the process by which governments come to choose one form of communication over another and about the factors driving centralization. This article addresses this gap through a comparison of two countries, Finland and Sweden, examining not only the organizational forms of government communication but also the causal mechanisms at work. Combining theoretical lessons from studies in political communication, political science, and public administration, it develops a centralization argument, focusing on the centripetal factors facilitating coordination and control. Drawing on over 40 interviews with journalists and political or media advisors in the two countries and on government documents, the article offers clear evidence of a trend toward centralization, particularly in Sweden. This trend should be understood as part of a broader process whereby prime ministers and their offices establish stronger control of the entire executive branch.
The Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, Report No. 2, 2022
This report examines how successful the three largest political families or Europarties – the cen... more This report examines how successful the three largest political families or Europarties – the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the centre-left Party of European Socialists (PES), the centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and their European Parliament (EP) party groups – have been in shaping the agenda and debates of the Conference on the Future of Europe. The report addresses three main research questions. First, it explores the avenues and strategies through which the Europarties and EP groups have sought to influence the Conference: coalition-building in the Parliament, and links with the Commission, national member parties, and European political foundations that are linked to the Europarties. Second, it analyses the division of labour or balance of power between and within Europarties and their EP groups relating to the Conference. Third, it assesses the priorities of these partisan actors in the Conference. The theoretical framework of the report focuses on the importance of agenda-setting in EU politics and on the strategies of Europarties and the EP groups in previous rounds of constitutional reform. The empirical analysis, drawing on interviews and documents, is divided into three parts. The first examines the inter-institutional bargaining in the run-up to the Conference, the second the actions and strategies of the Europarties and the EP groups before and during the Conference, while the third analyses the positions of the supranational partisan actors in the Conference. The results show how the Conference, like the EU in general, has an important transnational partisan dimension. Europarties, and particularly the well-resourced EP groups, benefiting from decades of experience of Treaty reforms and inter-institutional bargaining, managed to shape the agenda and also the debates of the Conference. These supranational partisan actors clearly prioritized items related to EU democracy and institutions but displayed less effort in reaching out to the citizens. Inside the Parliament the party groups built large coalitions behind resolutions, with group chairs strongly present in the process. Europarties played a much smaller role, while the political foundations were highly active through organising events and producing background material. Content analysis reveals considerable similarity between the institutional objectives, although differences were also found – for example, regarding transnational lists for EP elections. The concluding section summarises the findings and discusses how our study contributes to an understanding of EU democracy and the role of Europarties and EP groups in shaping the future of Europe.
The European Ambition
This book traces the EPP Group’s institutional, organisational and political trajectory in the Eu... more This book traces the EPP Group’s institutional, organisational and political trajectory in the European Parliament, focusing on the period after the first direct elections in 1979. In doing so, it sheds light on the functioning of parliamentary party groups, while at the same time creating the conditions for a better understanding of their role in the process of European integration and in the EU’s political system. Based on the conceptual framework of different disciplines—history, political science, European studies and political sociology—this book is the outcome of a research project involving scholars with diverse academic backgrounds and from different EU countries.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics
Membership in the European Union (EU) entails adjustments or changes in national democracies. Swe... more Membership in the European Union (EU) entails adjustments or changes in national democracies. Sweden joined the EU in 1995, and EU membership has given rise to controversies in the public debate as well as in the academic community. Four main scholarly and related themes are addressed here.First is the discursive construction of the question of democracy in relation to European integration. In an effort to legitimize membership in the public debate, the consequences in terms of sovereignty were summarized in the official Swedish discourse on EU membership as a loss in formal sovereignty but an increase in real sovereignty. The conclusions became known as the calculus of sovereignty. This conceptual innovation entailed a reinterpretation of popular sovereignty, as stipulated by the Swedish constitution, as well as of democracy, implying that efficiency or problem-solving capacity was emphasized more than procedural democracy. Increased economic and political interdependence had creat...
Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, 2010
Internationella Studier, 2000
This report explores the question of how populist parties organize and to what extent they have i... more This report explores the question of how populist parties organize and to what extent they have intrinsic characteristics and are alike in their organization. As this problematique is under-researched there is an important gap in our understanding and knowledge concerning populism and its parties. Largely a synthetic work, the report seeks to fill this void in existing research through an overview of the secondary literature and an inventory of scattered evidence covering a set of political parties broadly labelled populist. The evidence reveals that these parties in a range of European countries have experienced remarkably similar organizational attributes and style. A clear pattern has emerged. In a broad comparative perspective, three identifiable patterns are particularly notable as regards the organization of these parties. The first pattern is centralized organizational structures. The second pattern, and linked to the former, is personalized leadership, which is often but not always based on charismatic authority. The third pattern is factionalism or intra-party division.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 13501760802407755, Nov 3, 2008
... Jonas Tallberg and Karl Magnus Johansson ... The traditional socialist agenda for an interven... more ... Jonas Tallberg and Karl Magnus Johansson ... The traditional socialist agenda for an interventionist, regulatory Europe championed by Jospin collided with the new centre-left project pro-moted by Blair (Devuyst 1998: 624; Pollack 2000: 269). ...
Internationella Studier, 1999
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Papers by Karl Magnus Johansson
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.