tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/sweden-5639/articles
Sweden – The Conversation
2024-03-18T13:45:00Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199441
2024-03-18T13:45:00Z
2024-03-18T13:45:00Z
100,000 years and counting: how do we tell future generations about highly radioactive nuclear waste repositories?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519023/original/file-20230403-22-qlgar9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C20%2C3456%2C2276&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden, where KBS-3 repository technologies have been tested.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anna Storm</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Europe, increasing efforts on climate change mitigation, a sudden focus on energy independence after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and reported breakthroughs in <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/20/climate/nuclear-fusion-energy-breakthrough-replicate-climate/index.html">nuclear fusion</a> have sparked renewed interest in the potential of nuclear power. So-called <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2023/05/17/french-government-passes-bill-to-accelerate-the-construction-of-new-nuclear-reactors_6026936_19.html">small modular reactors</a> (SMRs) are increasingly under development, and familiar promises about nuclear power’s potential are being revived.</p>
<p>Nuclear power is routinely portrayed by proponents as the source of <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2022/05/world/iter-nuclear-fusion-climate-intl-cnnphotos/">“limitless”</a> amounts of carbon-free electricity. The rhetorical move from speaking about “renewable energy” to “fossil-free energy” is increasingly evident, and telling.</p>
<p>Yet nuclear energy production requires managing what is known as “spent” nuclear fuel where major problems arise about how best to safeguard these waste materials into the future – especially should nuclear energy production increase. Short-term storage facilities have been in place for decades, but the question of their long-term deposition has caused <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/europes-radioactive-problem-struggles-dispose-nuclear-waste-french-nuclear-facility/">intense political debates</a>, with a number of projects being <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/german-nuclear-phaseout-leaves-radioactive-waste-problem/a-66661614">delayed</a> or <a href="https://ejatlas.org/print/nuclear-waste-storage-near-the-spanish-frontier-of-portugal">cancelled entirely</a>. In the United States, work on the Yucca Mountain facility has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/18/nuclear-waste-why-theres-no-permanent-nuclear-waste-dump-in-us.html">stopped completely</a> leaving the country with 93 nuclear reactors and no long-term storage site for the waste they produce.</p>
<p>Nuclear power plants produce three <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oekoinstitut/23144291019">kinds of radioactive waste</a>: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Short-lived low- and intermediate-level waste; </p></li>
<li><p>Long-lived low- and intermediate-level waste; </p></li>
<li><p>Long-lived and highly radioactive waste, known as spent nuclear fuel.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The critical challenge for nuclear energy production is the management of long-lived waste, which refers to nuclear materials that take thousands of years to return to a level of radioactivity that is deemed “safe”. According to the US <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html">Nuclear Regulatory Commission</a> (NRC), in spent fuel half of the radiation in strontium-90 and cesium-137 can decay in 30 years, while it would take 24,000 years for plutonium-239 to return to a state considered “harmless”. However, exactly what is meant by “safe” and “harmless” in this context is something that <a href="https://www.xcdsystem.com/wmsym/2018/pdfs/FinalPaper_18430_0321010427.pdf">remains poorly defined</a> by international nuclear management organisations, and there is surprisingly little international consensus about the time it takes for radioactive waste to return to a state considered “safe” for organic life.</p>
<h2>“Permanent” geological repositories</h2>
<p>Despite the seeming revival of nuclear energy production today, very few of the countries that produce nuclear energy have defined a long-term strategy for managing highly radioactive spent fuel into the future. Only Finland and Sweden have confirmed plans for so-called “final” or “permanent” geological repositories.</p>
<p>The Swedish government <a href="https://skb.com/nyhet/the-government-approves-skbs-final-repository-system/">granted approval</a> for a final repository in the village of Forsmark in January 2022, with plans to construct, fill and seal the facility over the next century. This repository is designed to last 100,000 years, which is how long planners say that it will take to return to a level of radioactivity comparable to uranium found in the earth’s bedrock.</p>
<p>Finland is well underway in the construction of its <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/finland-built-tomb-store-nuclear-waste-can-it-survive-100000-years">Onkalo high-level nuclear waste repository</a>, which they began building in 2004 with plans to seal their facility by the end of the 21st century.</p>
<p>The technological method that Finland and Sweden plan to use in their permanent repositories is referred to as <a href="https://skb.com/future-projects/the-spent-fuel-repository/our-methodology/">KBS-3 storage</a>. In this method, spent nuclear fuel is encased in cast iron, which is then placed inside copper canisters, which are then surrounded by clay and bedrock approximately 500 metres below ground. The same or similar methods are being considered by other countries, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-nuclear-waste-whats-the-plan-and-can-it-be-safe-181884">such as the United Kingdom</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582198/original/file-20240315-26-xd0r1h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582198/original/file-20240315-26-xd0r1h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582198/original/file-20240315-26-xd0r1h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582198/original/file-20240315-26-xd0r1h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582198/original/file-20240315-26-xd0r1h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582198/original/file-20240315-26-xd0r1h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582198/original/file-20240315-26-xd0r1h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A test KBS-3 canister buried underground at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anna Storm</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sweden and Finland have described KBS-3 as a world-first nuclear-waste management solution. It is the product of decades of scientific research and negotiation with stakeholders, in particular with the communities that will eventually live near the buried waste.</p>
<p>Critical questions remain about the storage method, however. There have been widely publicised concerns in Sweden about the <a href="https://www.mkg.se/en/scientifically-inferior-skb-report-on-copper-corrosion-in-lot-project-shows-that-copper-is-not">corrosion of test copper canisters</a> after just a few decades. This is worrying, to say the least, because it’s based on a principle of passive safety. The storage sites will be constructed, the canisters filled and sealed, and then everything will be left in the ground without any human monitoring its safe functioning and with no technological option for retrieving it. Yet, over 100,000 years the prospect of human or non-human intrusion into the site – both accidental or intentional – remains a serious threat.</p>
<h2>The Key Information File</h2>
<p>Another major problem is how to communicate the presence of buried nuclear waste to future generations. If spent fuel remains dangerous for 100,000 years, then clearly this is a time frame where languages can disappear and where the existence of humanity cannot be guaranteed. Transferring information about these sites into the future is a sizeable task that demands expertise and collaboration internationally across the social sciences and sciences into practices of nuclear waste memory transfer – what we refer to as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/27539687231174242">nuclear memory communication</a>.</p>
<p>In a project commissioned by the Swedish Nuclear Waste Management Company (SKB), we take up this precise task by writing the “Key Information File” – a document aimed at non-expert readers containing only the most essential information about Sweden’s nuclear waste repository under development.</p>
<p>The Key Information File has been <a href="https://www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_15060/preservation-of-records-knowledge-and-memory-across-generations-developing-a-key-information-file-for-a-radioactive-waste-repository">formulated</a> as a summary document that would help future readers understand the dangers posed by buried waste. Its purpose is to guide the reader to where they can find more detailed information about the repository – acting as a “key” to other archives and forms of nuclear memory communication until the site’s closure at the end of the 21st century. What happens to the Key Information File after this time is undecided, yet communicating the information that it contains to future generations is crucial.</p>
<p>The Key Information File we will publish in 2024 is intended to be securely stored at the entrance to the nuclear waste repository in Sweden, as well as at the National Archives in Stockholm. To ensure its durability and survival through time, the plan is for it to be <a href="https://www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_15088/preservation-of-records-knowledge-and-memory-across-generations-final-report">reproduced in different media formats and translated into multiple languages</a>. The initial version is in English and, when finalised, it will be translated into Swedish and other languages that have yet to be decided.</p>
<p>Our aim is for the file to be updated every 10 years to ensure that essential information is correct and that it remains understandable to a wide audience. We also see the need for the file to be incorporated into other intergenerational practices of knowledge transfer in the future – from its inclusion into educational syllabi in schools, to the use of graphic design and artwork to make the document distinctive and memorable, to the formation of international networks of Key Information File writing and storage in countries where, at the time of writing, decisions have not yet been made about how to store highly radioactive long-lived nuclear waste.</p>
<h2>Fragility and short-termism: a great irony</h2>
<p>In the process of writing the Key Information File, we have discovered many issues surrounding the efficacy of these strategies for communicating memory of nuclear waste repositories into the future. One is the remarkable fragility of programs and institutions – on more than one occasion in recent years, it has taken just one person to retire from a nuclear organisation for the knowledge of an entire programme of memory communication to be halted or even lost.</p>
<p>And if it is difficult to preserve and communicate crucial information even in the short term, what chance do we have over 100,000 years?</p>
<p>International attention is increasingly fixated on “impactful” short-term responses to environmental problems – usually limited to the lifespan of two or three future generations of human life. Yet the nature of long-lived nuclear waste requires us to imagine and care for a future well beyond that time horizon, and perhaps even beyond the existence of humanity.</p>
<p>Responding to these challenges, even partially, requires governments and research funders internationally to provide the capacity for long-term intergenerational research on these and related issues. It also demands care in developing succession plans for retiring experts to ensure their institutional knowledge and expertise is not lost. In Sweden, this could also mean committing long-term funding from the <a href="http://www.karnavfallsfonden.se/informationinenglish.4.725330be11efa4b0a3f8000131.html">Swedish nuclear waste fund</a> so that not only future technical problems with the waste deposition are tackled, but also future <em>societal</em> problems of memory and information transfer can be addressed by people with appropriate capacity and expertise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keating's work is partly supported by Svensk Kärnbränslehantering (grant no.24992). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Storm's work is partly supported by Svensk Kärnbränslehantering (grant no. 24992) and by the Swedish Research Council (grants no. 2020-00623 and no. 2020-06548).</span></em></p>
Spent nuclear fuel remains dangerous for so long that languages can disappear and humanity’s very existence cannot be guaranteed. So how do we communicate information about repositories into the future?
Thomas Keating, Postdoctoral Researcher, Linköping University
Anna Storm, Professor of Technology and Social Change, Linköping University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218753
2024-03-13T16:44:27Z
2024-03-13T16:44:27Z
Sweden has vast ‘old growth’ forests – but they are being chopped down faster than the Amazon
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581678/original/file-20240313-20-usdjv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4594%2C3449&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Swedish old-growth forest.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ulrika Ervander</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of Europe’s natural ecosystems have been lost over the centuries. However, a sizeable amount of natural old forest still exists, especially in the north. These “old-growth” forests are <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2022.979528/full">exceptionally valuable</a> as they tend to host more species, store more carbon, and are <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acd6a8/meta">more resilient to environmental change</a>.</p>
<p>Many of these forests are found in Sweden, part of the belt of boreal forests that circle the world through Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. But after <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022EF003221">researching these last relics of natural forest</a> we have found they are being cleared rapidly – at a rate faster even than the Amazon rainforest. </p>
<p>There is no direct monitoring of these forests, no thorough environmental impact assessments and most of the public don’t seem to be aware this is even happening. Other evidence suggests something similar is happening right across the world’s boreal forests.</p>
<p>It can be tricky to know exactly how much old-growth forest there is, since the distinction might not always be clear. However, there is a clear difference between forests that have been “clear-cut” (entirely chopped down) sometime in the past and those that never have. </p>
<p>Clear-cutting started appearing in Sweden in the early 1900s and has been the dominant type of forestry in the country since the 1950s. The uncut forests that predate this time have therefore most likely not been clear-cut and since they are old they can be classified as old-growth forests.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581712/original/file-20240313-22-nlg4ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Logging machine in forest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581712/original/file-20240313-22-nlg4ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581712/original/file-20240313-22-nlg4ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581712/original/file-20240313-22-nlg4ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581712/original/file-20240313-22-nlg4ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581712/original/file-20240313-22-nlg4ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581712/original/file-20240313-22-nlg4ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581712/original/file-20240313-22-nlg4ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Clear-cutting is still the main form of logging in Sweden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lasse Johansson / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our study, we looked specifically at forests in unprotected areas where the trees predated 1880 on average. That’s long before the large-scale adoption of clear-cutting in Sweden and means those forests have likely never been clear-cut.</p>
<p>These unprotected old-growth forests constitute around 8% of the productive forest land in Sweden, that is, the area that is generally favourable for forestry (omitting forests close to the Scandinavian mountain range tree line). This amounts to about 1.8 million hectares of old-growth forest, more than the total wooded area in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/FOR_AREA_EFA__custom_672302/bookmark/table?lang=en&bookmarkId=2b089c56-a550-4f87-943e-0989dacf605a">many European countries</a>.</p>
<p>This area of unprotected old-growth forest, with the remaining protected old-growth and <a href="https://www.nateko.lu.se/research/ecosystem-ecology/primary-forest-project">primary forests</a>, constitutes a large share of the last known ecosystems of “high naturalness” in the EU.</p>
<h2>What is happening to these old-growth forests?</h2>
<p>Between 2003 and 2019, 20% of all the clear-cut forest in Sweden was old-growth. This means a sizeable share of forest products, such as timber, paper and bioenergy, comes from old trees. The losses to unprotected old-growth forests amount to 1.4% per year, which means they will be lost completely by the 2070s if the trend continues. </p>
<p>To put this in perspective, Sweden’s old-growth forests have been cleared six to seven times faster than the <a href="http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br/app/dashboard/deforestation/biomes/amazon/increments">Brazilian Amazon forest</a> between 2008 and 2023. (Of course, given the size of the Amazon, the total amount of cleared forest is much larger there). </p>
<p>While our study, shockingly enough, appears to be the only of its kind across the boreal region, there is some research showing that old-growth forests are also harvested in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112719313611">Canada</a>. Additional anecdotal evidence further suggests the unchecked loss of old-growth forests to forestry operations in <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2014/09/30/russia-is-running-out-of-forest-a39951">other</a> <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/tale-two-forests-tour-through-canadas-boreal">boreal</a> <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/issue-with-tissue-2-report.pdf">regions</a> .</p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>The European Commission has drafted <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/detail?ref=SWD(2023)62&lang=en">guidelines</a> for all countries to map and protect all remaining old-growth and primary forests. This would be a good start. </p>
<p>But ultimately, we’ll need a coordinated system to map and monitor the entire boreal forest simply to learn the rate at which it is being lost. This would also help us understand the implications for carbon storage, for other plants and animals that live in these forests, and the humans that use them. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is a large and difficult task. Yet this might be one of our last chances to protect and recover large areas of natural forests. Logging old-growth forests now will delay their recovery for centuries.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anders Ahlström receives funding from the Swedish Research Council and EU H2020. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pep Canadell receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program - Climate Systems Hub.</span></em></p>
Research suggests these forests could disappear by the 2070s.
Anders Ahlström, Associate Professor, Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University
Pep Canadell, Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Environment; Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222781
2024-02-12T16:31:40Z
2024-02-12T16:31:40Z
Giving birth in Sweden: outcomes are worse for foreign-born mothers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574646/original/file-20240209-30-wshqpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C15%2C5055%2C3359&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-father-holding-newborn-baby-son-627702491">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sweden has consistently reported some of the lowest rates of maternal and child mortality in the <a href="https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/topic-details/mca/maternal-and-newborn---mortality-causes-of-death">world</a>. Unfortunately, these achievements don’t extend to foreign-born mothers who face higher risks for all forms of negative pregnancy <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0001-6349.2005.00686.x">outcomes</a>.</p>
<p>The COVID pandemic was a strong reminder of the gaping health inequities when providing care to these women. Foreign-born mothers reported higher rates of infection, <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aogs.14552">intensive care admission</a>, preterm birth, underweight babies and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9111112/pdf/BJO-129-1361.pdf">stillbirths</a> compared with Swedish-born mothers.</p>
<p>Afra (not her real name) is one such case. Her baby died in the womb soon after she caught COVID in her third trimester. She grieved how utterly the healthcare system had failed her when she was referred to the university hospital for a consultation. “No one told me that COVID could be dangerous for the baby,” she told me. “I asked my midwifery-centre, and they said nothing. I was not even advised to take the vaccine!”</p>
<p>Afra’s story is one of many that highlights the difficulties foreign-born mothers face in the Swedish healthcare system. Despite being <a href="https://www.norden.org/en/info-norden/pregnancy-and-childbirth-sweden">universally available and free</a> for all mothers, why is one of the leading healthcare systems in the world failing to protect its foreign-born citizens?</p>
<p>The reason is simple. It lies in the very fabric of the Swedish healthcare system, namely the principle of being impartial and providing the same resources for all. The system does not recognise that, due to their socioeconomic status and ethnicity, foreign-born mothers require additional resources to achieve the same outcomes as Swedish-born mothers.</p>
<p>Almost one-third of all Swedish births are from <a href="https://www.europeanjournalofmidwifery.eu/Midwives-communication-with-non-Swedish-speaking-women-giving-birth-A-survey-from,148159,0,2.html">foreign-born mothers</a>. This number has increased from the 1970s, where only 11% of all births were from <a href="https://www.europeanjournalofmidwifery.eu/Midwives-communication-with-non-Swedish-speaking-women-giving-birth-A-survey-from,148159,0,2.html">non-native mothers</a>. With this growing number, it is high time to dissect the reasons for these inequities and find solutions to address them.</p>
<p>For example, the tools already at our disposal could be used to identify and map these inequities and where they are occurring. The evidence-based guidelines used in the Swedish healthcare system are backed by several high-quality registers that document patient outcomes at the population level. </p>
<p>Childbirth care is documented by the <a href="https://www.socialstyrelsen.se/en/statistics-and-data/registers/national-medical-birth-register/">Swedish Medical Birth Register</a>, which has been collecting maternal, medical and neonatal data for almost five decades. The register covers 99% of all births in Sweden – but hardly any data specific to socioeconomics, such as race or ethnicity, is collected. </p>
<p>Of the few variables collected, country of birth is one and job status is the other. This means that the most valuable tool available to maternal healthcare professionals is essentially impaired from identifying how health inequities can affect birth outcomes.</p>
<h2>Language barriers</h2>
<p>Communication barriers due to a lack of proficiency in the Swedish language in foreign-born mothers is a large challenge in this regard. Many maternal healthcare professionals, including midwives, report this as a huge issue and struggle to adequately understand <a href="https://www.europeanjournalofmidwifery.eu/Midwives-communication-with-non-Swedish-speaking-women-giving-birth-A-survey-from,148159,0,2.html">non-Swedish speaking mothers</a>. </p>
<p>In high-risk situations, like during an emergency caesarean section, such communication barriers may be critical and can even cost lives. </p>
<p>Also, there is limited understanding of how these language barriers affect foreign-born mothers’ overall understanding of the care they are receiving and their experiences of the quality of care provided. Future research would be key to understanding this knowledge gap.</p>
<p>An interesting solution is the use of what are known as “cultural doulas” to help increase healthcare availability and support to foreign-born mothers through their pregnancies, especially during childbirth. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34222838/">Doulas</a> are people without specific medical training, but whose cultural and language proficiency can be involved in a woman’s pregnancy and childbirth to give emotional, social and psychological support. They have been found to reduce caesarean section rates and improve the overall <a href="https://europepmc.org/article/med/16714912">quality of care</a>.</p>
<p>Of course, not everyone is keen on this idea. With an already heavily taxed population, and the healthcare system losing many millions of Swedish kronor per year, maternal healthcare and research have never been high on the priority list. </p>
<p>But if these changes were made, Swedish maternal healthcare could contribute significantly to improving outcomes for foreign-born mothers and their babies. By addressing this issue head-on, we can ensure that all mothers receive the comprehensive care they deserve, regardless of their origins.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mehreen Zaigham receives funding from the Swedish Research Council Grant 2022–00208. </span></em></p>
About one in three Swedish births are from foreign-born mothers.
Mehreen Zaigham, Associate Professor, Lund University, Sweden, Lund University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219620
2024-01-18T16:38:26Z
2024-01-18T16:38:26Z
DNA from stone age chewing gum sheds light on diet and disease in Scandinavia’s ancient hunter-gatherers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570142/original/file-20240118-27-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C464%2C352&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mold cast of one of the chewed pitch pieces.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Verner Alexandersen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some 9,700 years ago on an autumn day, a group of people were camping on the west coast of Scandinavia. They were hunter-gatherers that had been fishing, hunting and collecting resources in the area. </p>
<p>Some teenagers, both boys and girls, were chewing resin to produce glue, just after eating trout, deer and hazelnuts. Due to a severe gum infection (periodontitis), one of the teenagers had problems eating the chewy deer-meat, as well as preparing the resin by chewing it.</p>
<p>This snapshot of the Mesolithic period, just before Europeans started farming, comes from analysis of DNA left in the chewed resin that we have conducted, now <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-48762-6">published in Scientific Reports</a>. </p>
<p>The location is now known as <a href="https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/3c1fd58a-9495-4403-ab7d-d22104f2fafb">Huseby Klev</a>, situated north of Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/wet-and-the-wild-followed-by-the-dry-and-the-tame-or-did-they-occur-at-the-same-time-diet-in-mesolithic-neolithic-southern-sweden/D91F7830FE704FD24DFAFB55E551039B">It was excavated</a> by archaeologists in the early 1990s, and yielded some 1,849 flint artefacts and 115 pieces of resin (mastic). The site has been radiocarbon dated to between 10,200 and 9,400 years ago, with one of the pieces of resin dated to 9,700 years ago.</p>
<p>Some of the resin has teeth imprints, indicating that children, actually teenagers, had been chewing them. Masticated lumps, often with imprints of teeth, fingerprints or both, are not uncommon to find in Mesolithic sites. </p>
<p>The pieces of resin we have analysed were made of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13549-9">birch bark pitch</a>, which is known to have been used as an <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-08-neanderthal-tool-making-simpler-previously-thought.html">adhesive substance in stone tool technology</a> from the Middle Palaeolithic onward. However, they were also chewed for recreational or medicinal purposes in traditional societies.</p>
<p>A variety of substances with similar properties, such as resins from coniferous trees, natural bitumen, and other plant gums, are known to have been used in analogous ways in many parts of the world.</p>
<h2>The power of DNA</h2>
<p>In some of the resin, half the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0399-1">DNA extracted</a> was of human origin. This is a lot compared to what we often find in ancient bones and teeth. </p>
<p>It represents some of the oldest human genomes from Scandinavia. It has a particular ancestry profile common among Mesolithic hunter gatherers who once lived there. </p>
<p>Some of the resin contains male human DNA while others have female DNA. We think that teenagers of both sexes were preparing glue for use in tool making, such as attaching a stone axe to a wooden handle.</p>
<p>But what of the other half of the DNA that was of non-human origin? Most of this DNA is from organisms such as bacteria and fungi that have lived in the mastic since it was discarded 9,700 years ago. But some of it was from bacteria living in the human that chewed it, along with material the human had been chewing on before they put the birch bark pitch in their mouths.</p>
<p>Analysing all this DNA is a demanding task and treads new ground. We had to both adapt existing computing tools and also develop some new analytical strategies. As such, this work has become the starting point for developing a new workflow for this kind of analysis. </p>
<p>This includes mining the DNA using different strategies to characterise it, trying to piece together short DNA fragments into longer ones and using machine learning techniques to work out which DNA fragments belong to pathogens (harmful microorganisms). It also involves comparing the data to what we see in the mouths of modern people with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551699/">tooth decay (caries)</a> and periodontitis.</p>
<h2>Higher organisms</h2>
<p>Naturally, we found the kind of bacteria that would be expected in an oral microbiome, the range of naturally occurring microorganisms found in the mouth. We also found traces of bacteria implicated in conditions such as tooth decay or caries (<em>Streptococcus mutans</em>), and systemic diseases such as Hib disease and endocarditis. There were also bacteria that can cause abscesses. </p>
<p>Although these pathogenic microorganisms were present at an elevated frequency, they were not clearly above the level expected for a healthy oral microbiome. There is thus no conclusive evidence that members of the group suffered from diseases these microorganisms are associated with. </p>
<p>What we did find, however, was an abundance of bacteria associated with serious gum disease – <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/periodontitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354473">periodontitis</a>. When we applied a <a href="https://www.ibm.com/topics/machine-learning">machine learning</a> strategy (in this case, a technique called <a href="https://www.ibm.com/topics/random-forest">Random Forest modelling</a>) we reached the conclusion that the girl who chewed one of the pieces of resin had probably suffered from periodontitis – with more than a 75% probability.</p>
<p>We also found DNA from larger organisms than just bacteria. We found DNA for red deer, brown trout and hazelnuts. This DNA probably came from material the teenagers had been chewing before they put the birch pitch in their mouths. </p>
<p>However, we need to be a little bit cautious because exactly what we find is also dependent on the comparison data that we have. As genomes from eukaryotic organisms – the group that includes plants and animals – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9846/">are larger and more complex</a> than those from microorganisms, it is more complicated to assemble a eukaryotic genome of high quality. </p>
<p>There are fewer eukaryotic genomes in the samples of resin, and they are of lower quality. This means that our brown trout, for example, may not actually be a brown trout, but we at least feel certain it is from the salmon family.</p>
<p>We also found a lot of fox DNA, but this is harder to interpret. Fox meat may have been a part of the diet, but these teenagers could also have chewed on tendons and fur from foxes for use in textiles. Alternatively, the fox DNA could even be from territorial marking and got into the resin after it was spat out.</p>
<p>However, what we have learned for sure represents a big step in understanding these fascinating records of human culture from the Stone Age. As we analyse more of these, even more surprises could emerge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anders Götherström receives funding from: the Swedish Research Council (2019-00849_VR), Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (P16-0553:1)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emrah Kırdök does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Genetic analysis reveals one of the teenagers probably had advanced gum disease.
Anders Götherström, Professor in Molecular Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University
Emrah Kırdök, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Mersin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220649
2024-01-10T16:59:43Z
2024-01-10T16:59:43Z
In Sweden, burning Qur'ans threaten to send the country’s history of tolerance up in smoke
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568129/original/file-20231225-19-xykc6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C365%2C2160%2C1529&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Danish-Swedish extremist and politician Rasmus Paludan as he burns a Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21, 2023.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmus_Paludan#/media/Fichier:Rasmus_Paludan_burning_the_Koran_2023-01-21_(2).jpg">Tobias Hellsten/Wikipedia </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Long known for its multiculturalism, Sweden has recently witnessed unprecedented tensions accompanied by palpable and, alas, justified concerns about the safety of Swedish nationals abroad.</p>
<p>Last summer, demonstrators in <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/28/sweden-quran-nato-iran-iraq-russia/">Ankara, Beirut, Islamabad and Jakarta</a> set fire to the Swedish flag. In <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/religions/article/2023/07/20/swedish-embassy-in-baghdad-stormed-and-set-on-fire-in-protests-over-quran-burning_6060045_63.html">Iraq</a> and <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/molotov-cocktail-thrown-at-swedish-embassy-in-beirut-amid-quran-burning-tensions/">Lebanon</a>, protests also boiled over, with demonstrators alternately throwing cocktail molotovs and storming the country’s embassies. And in Brussels on 17 October, two fans of the Swedish football team who were in the city to watch the Belgium-Sweden match were killed by a man who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67195715">claimed to have been inspired by the Islamic State</a>.</p>
<p>Since last year’s events, the Swedish government has advised its citizens to exert caution while travelling abroad, a shock for a country that has long been identified with relatively generous migration policies and a concern for intercultural dialogue.</p>
<h2>Anti-Islam provocations and threats of violence</h2>
<p>The upsurge in hostility has one cause: burnings of the Qu'ran. Although the sacred text first went up in smoke in <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/25/denmark-s-quran-burning-politician-gathering-support-for-election-candidacy">Denmark in 2010</a>, desecrations have since been more frequent in Sweden. The trend’s initiator is a 41-year old Danish-Swedish dual citizen, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/27/burning-of-quran-in-stockholm-funded-by-journalist-with-kremlin-ties-sweden-nato-russia">Rasmus Paludan</a>, trained as a lawyer. The leader of a Danish party called “Hard Line” (<em>Hart Stram</em>), Paludan emerged a few years ago as a critic of the “Islamisation of European societies”. <em>Hart Stram</em> won 1.8% of the vote in the 2019 Danish parliamentary elections, but was excluded for manipulating the lists of signatures required to file candidacies.</p>
<p>In response, Paludan turned to Sweden, where immigration-related issues have increasingly stirred controversy in the past decade. In 2020, he burned <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/29/riots-rock-malmo-after-far-right-swedish-activists-burn-quran">a Qur'an in Rosengården</a>, a district of Malmö, where almost 90% of the inhabitants are of foreign origin. Paludan’s actions sparked an <a href="https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2020/08/620385/riot-sweden-amidst-quran-burning-rally">upsurge in violence</a>. While he was banned from entering the country, as a dual national he was able to continue his activities, and even attracted emulators, such as Iraqi refugee <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/02/swedish-government-condemns-islamophobic-burning-of-a-quran">Salwan Momika</a>. </p>
<p>Together, Paludan, Momika and their imitators target sites with the explicit aim of exacerbating tensions, including places of Muslim worship, neighbourhoods with a high concentration of immigrants and in front of Muslim countries’ embassies. In the spring of 2022, Paludan embarked on a series of desecrations across Sweden that he dubbed an “election tour”. These led to violent clashes in several towns and a deterioration in the country’s image in the Middle East. An umpteenth provocation in the vicinity of the Turkish embassy in January 2023 provoked a virulent reaction from Ankara, to the point of compromising the first item on Sweden’s foreign policy agenda: NATO membership.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Turkish Parliament reacted by calling for Sweden’s application – which had been formalised seven months earlier – <a href="https://www.letemps.ch/monde/adhesion-de-la-suede-a-l-otan-un-coran-brule-a-stockholm-seme-la-zizanie">to be rejected</a>. For several days, Sweden’s official agency for cultural diplomacy counted w interventions per hour on social media in Turkish, denouncing Paludan’s actions without Swedish authorities intervening. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oKUjSHo4rzw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>In June, at the opening of the <a href="https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/qu-est-ce-que-l-aid-el-kebir-la-grande-fete-musulmane-28-06-2023-2526640_23.php"><em>Aid al-Adha</em> festivities</a>, burned a Qur'an in front of Stockholm’s Grand Mosque. It triggered a deluge of protests, with the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation protesting against the intolerable… tolerance of Swedish justice. In Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other Muslim countries, demonstrators called for a boycott of Sweden, or even revenge against the country.</p>
<p>In response, in August the Swedish counter-espionage agency, SÄPO, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/08/18/sweden-raises-terror-alert-level_6097778_4.html">raised the alert threshold for terrorist attacks</a> against the country to level 4 (out of 5). This was a return to the climate of 2016, when the war in Syria triggered a historic surge in the number of refugees.</p>
<h2>Homegrown causes and a new split in the political spectrum</h2>
<p>While the spate of anti-Islam actions is the work of transnational players, it is in Sweden that they manifested themselves most conspicuously. The interethnic tensions that have shaken the country since the migrant crisis of 2015-2016 and the proliferation of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/30/how-gang-violence-took-hold-of-sweden-in-five-charts">settling of scores between gangs</a>, have helped to create a fertile ground. According to the Swedish government, Russia has also sought to use its networks to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/26/russia-using-disinformation-to-imply-sweden-supported-quran-burnings">fan the flames of conflict between long-settled Swedes and newcomers</a>. The Kremlin’s goal is to destabilise a country that has strongly supported Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, to the point of ending two centuries of neutrality to join NATO.</p>
<p>The controversy comes at a time when domestic policy has been marked by a turning point: the breakthrough in September 2022 of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/17/world/europe/sweden-far-right-election.html">Sweden Democrats</a> (SD), a far-right party with neo-Nazi roots. It succeeded in part by making its stand against immigration – based on the premise of a “war of civilisations” – the focus of its discourse. While liberal-conservative Ulf Kristersson leads the government, the Sweden Democrats give him a majority through their support. This allows them to inject their obsessions into the country’s debates. Their latest proposal is the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/11/27/sweden-pm-condemns-far-right-call-to-tear-down-mosques_6292541_4.html">demolition of many of the country’s existing mosques</a>.</p>
<p>The multiplication of Qur'an burnings has only served to exacerbate the Islamic world’s concern that such acts are becoming commonplace. But Muslim communities are also outraged by the inaction Swedish authorities, which is in stark contrast to neighbouring countries such as <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-ban-quran-burning/">Denmark</a> and <a href="https://yle.fi/a/74-20015426">Finland</a>. How can we explain the stance of Swedish officials in the face of this phenomenon, at a time when the political security situation appears (according to Prime Minister Kristersson’s <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/swedish-pm-delivers-a-grim-christmas-speech/">2022 Christmas speech</a>) to be “the worst since the end of the Second World War”?</p>
<h2>Legal and cultural reasons for governmental action</h2>
<p>The technical reason most often cited to explain the prevalence Qur'an burnings in Sweden is the lack of a legal arsenal to prohibit it. Laws banning blasphemy and the defamation of religion were struck down more than 50 years ago, so the issue of the formally curbing such provocations that the discussion has crystallised.</p>
<p>To date, Sweden’s courts have been reluctant to invoke two relevant articles of country’s criminal code, which punish, respectively, “vexatious behaviour” and “incitement to racial hatred”. The former requires the offensive impact of the gesture to be proven – and not just probable. In the latter case, the current interpretation among judges is that insulting a religion is not the same as discriminating against an ethnic group. At present, administrative courts of appeal have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66310285">overturned police bans</a> on Paludan and Momika’s actions.</p>
<p>Faced with an outcry that unites not only Erdogan, Vladimir Putin and Victor Orban but also the United Nations’ <a href="https://unric.org/en/human-rights-council-condemns-the-burning-of-the-quran-as-a-religious-hate-act/">Human Rights Council</a>, the parties in the government coalition oscillate between criticism of the Qur'an burnings and a refusal to “give in to foreign diktats”. Sweden’s Social Democrat party, now in opposition, seems to be leaning toward a readjustment of the legal arsenal. </p>
<p>It should be remembered that while the principle of freedom of expression has been a pillar of Sweden’s national identity since the 18th century, legislation often prompted by political emergencies has restricted its scope. Since 1933, for example, Swedish citizens have been forbidden to wear clothing revealing their political affiliation. In 1996, a man who wore a Swedish flag decorated with mythological figures and the word <em>Valhalla</em> on national day was convicted in court. In 2014, artist Dan Park’s collages – depicting the hanging of three coloured individuals, identified by name, as if after a lynching – <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/154676/sentenced-swedish-artist-dan-park-incited-against-an-ethnic-group/">earned him</a> a heavy fine, six months in prison and the destruction of his works.</p>
<p>The reluctance to change the law today can be explained by the rejection of the idea that the sphere of the sacred can be the object of guardianship or <em>ad hoc</em> bans. Attacking a “symbol” – as the public prosecutor ruled in the Qu'ran burning in front of the Turkish embassy – is never illegal, as long as the demonstration does not target flesh-and-blood believers. </p>
<p>In a polarised political spectrum, the dispute has contributed to a hardening of positions. While the Sweden Democrats perceive an opportunity to set themselves up as defenders of a national virtue – tolerance, extended to extreme expressions, of the right of assembly – the government is engaged in a perilous balancing act: denouncing the exploitation of Islamophobia by foreign powers that are often highly undemocratic, while dissociating itself from repulsive manifestations of xenophobia.
A public enquiry, launched in August to examine revising the standards on freedom of expression, will deliver its conclusions on 1 July 2024. Relying on well-established consensual mechanisms, the government is seeking to break a deadlock that places Sweden in an outlying – and uncomfortable – position.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Piero S. Colla ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Anti-Islam activists in Sweden have repeatedly burned Qurans in public, not only earning the country vehement criticism from Muslim countries but also raising the threat of terrorism.
Piero S. Colla, Chargé de cours à l’université de Strasbourg, laboratoire « Mondes germaniques et nord-européens », Université de Strasbourg
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218706
2023-11-29T19:17:52Z
2023-11-29T19:17:52Z
What is a ‘just’ transition to net zero - and why is Australia struggling to get there?
<p>Australia’s net-zero transition is struggling. Despite the government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-will-underwrite-risky-investments-in-renewables-heres-why-thats-a-good-idea-218427">efforts</a>, announced last week, to revive flagging investment in renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions from existing industry are still <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/time-is-running-out-to-reach-our-emissions-target-and-our-path-needs-changing/">rising</a>. Yet under the Paris Agreement, Australia must adopt <a href="https://www.climatecollege.unimelb.edu.au/australias-paris-agreement-pathways">even more ambitious targets</a> for 2035.</p>
<p>At the same time, governments in Australia and overseas are facing <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-beat-rollout-rage-the-environment-versus-climate-battle-dividing-regional-australia-213863">rising community opposition</a> to the rollout of clean energy infrastructure needed for a net zero transition. Such opposition is being <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/robert-lambrou-alternative-for-germany-heat-pump-election-climate-change/">exploited by right-wing parties</a> for electoral gain.</p>
<p>But that pressure only underscores what the Australian government must do. To lift its climate game, it needs a mission-oriented, whole-of-government approach, built on what is known as a “<a href="https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/what-just-transition-and-why-it-important">just transition</a>”.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-973" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/973/534c98def812dd41ac56cc750916e2922539729b/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>The two main elements of a just transition</h2>
<p>A just transition requires both <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-human-factor-why-australias-net-zero-transition-risks-failing-unless-it-is-fair-214064">distributive justice</a> and procedural justice. Distributive justice means policies that ensure a fair distribution of the economic burdens and benefits of the climate transition, along with protections for low-income people.</p>
<p>Procedural justice includes – but goes beyond – engaging with workers directly impacted by the decline of fossil fuel production. It means going beyond engagement with stakeholders that mainly represent incumbent industries.</p>
<p>A just transition would give all of Australia’s communities a chance to not only take part in discussions about the costs and benefits of different approaches to net zero, but also to have a say in designing climate policies that directly affect them.</p>
<p>The success of the net zero transition may depend on the government’s willingness to use the expertise of local communities in finding solutions for the lands and waters they know best.</p>
<p>The Labor government <a href="https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/net-zero-authority-gives-more-australians-a-chance-to-prosper-from-renewables">signed</a> the <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20230313132211/https://ukcop26.org/supporting-the-conditions-for-a-just-transition-internationally/">Just Transition Declaration</a> at last year’s <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop27">COP27 global climate summit</a> at Sharm el-Sheikh. The declaration spells out this idea in its second principle:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the development of effective, nationally coherent, locally driven and delivered just transition plans within countries is dependent on effective and inclusive social dialogue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet the Albanese government’s net-zero strategy has no explicit commitment to a just transition. Instead, its piecemeal strategy lacks integration and avoids tackling the essential phase-out of fossil fuels.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-could-australia-actually-get-to-net-zero-heres-how-217778">How could Australia actually get to net zero? Here's how</a>
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</p>
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<h2>Many government bodies – but is there a plan?</h2>
<p>In May the government announced it would establish a statutory <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/news/new-national-net-zero-authority">Net Zero Authority</a> “to ensure the workers, industries and communities that have powered Australia for generations can seize the opportunities of Australia’s net zero transformation.”</p>
<p>The authority is expected to “help investors and companies to engage with net zero transformation opportunities,” to help regions and communities attract new investment in clean energy, and to assist workers in the transition away from emissions-intensive industries.</p>
<p>To design the legislation to create the Net Zero Authority and to “immediately kick-start” its work, in July the government set up an interim body known as the <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/news/net-zero-economy-agency">Net Zero Economic Agency</a>, located in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.</p>
<p>The agency is chaired by former Labor climate change minister Greg Combet and supported by a ten-member <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/appointment-net-zero-economy-agency-and-advisory-board">advisory board</a>. The mining industry and mining unions are well represented, holding three seats. However, many key stakeholders, including environmental and climate NGOs and the social welfare sector, are not represented.</p>
<p>At the same time, climate minister Chris Bowen has established a <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen/media-releases/joint-media-release-delivering-australias-climate-and-energy-transformation">Net Zero Taskforce</a> in the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water to advise on the 2035 emissions reduction target and the plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050.</p>
<p>Guided by the advice of the Climate Change Authority, the taskforce will develop <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction/net-zero">six sectoral decarbonisation plans</a> in:</p>
<ul>
<li>electricity and energy</li>
<li>industry</li>
<li>resources</li>
<li>the built environment</li>
<li>agriculture and land</li>
<li>transport.</li>
</ul>
<p>How the work of all these bodies fits together is unclear. An overarching Net Zero National Cabinet Committee, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-urgently-needs-a-climate-plan-and-a-net-zero-national-cabinet-committee-to-implement-it-213866">as suggested</a> by the Grattan Institute’s Tony Wood, could provide the necessary coordination, as long as it is guided by an integrated strategy for a net zero just transition.</p>
<p>Yet a just transition is not mentioned on government websites relating to the <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction/net-zero">interim agency</a> and the <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction/net-zero">taskforce</a>, other than to say that they will engage with communities, industry, First Nations, and unions, with an emphasis on affected workers in regions. There is no earmarked funding, institutional innovation, or capacity building to enable inclusive dialogues across communities and society.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-urgently-needs-a-climate-plan-and-a-net-zero-national-cabinet-committee-to-implement-it-213866">Why Australia urgently needs a climate plan and a Net Zero National Cabinet Committee to implement it</a>
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</p>
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<h2>Lessons in dialogue at home and overseas</h2>
<p>The Net Zero Authority is well positioned to coordinate and fund such dialogues, which are best approached from a perspective geared towards <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2108365">systemic change</a>.</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/sydney-policy-lab/">Sydney Policy Lab</a> has found in its community “listening campaign” on the climate transition in <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/sydney-policy-lab/research-and-policy/real-deal.html">Geelong</a>, the authority’s transition planning will lack support if it ignores the issues (such as secure housing and affordable living) communities most worry about.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-new-dawn-becoming-a-green-superpower-with-a-big-role-in-cutting-global-emissions-216373">Australia's new dawn: becoming a green superpower with a big role in cutting global emissions</a>
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<p>Such approaches have already met with considerable success elsewhere. In Denmark, <a href="https://www.oecd.org/environment/cc/g20-climate/collapsecontents/Just-Transition-Centre-report-just-transition.pdf">an OECD study</a> found social dialogues have been a significant factor in the country’s successful transition to wind power. It now accounts for <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/wind-power-meets-and-beats-denmarks-total-electricity-demand-two-days-in-a-row/">a major share</a> of Denmark’s energy output.</p>
<p>And in Sweden, the government’s Innovation Agency, <a href="https://rri-tools.eu/-/designing-missions-mission-oriented-innovation-in-sweden-a-practice-guide-by-vinnova#:%7E:text=SUMMARY&text=This%20book%20describes%20how%20Vinnova,developed%20by%20Vinnova%20in%20detail">Vinnova</a>, has recently developed highly collaborative processes for redesigning energy, food and other systems to achieve net zero and other goals.</p>
<p>Far from slowing the transition, a commitment to inclusive dialogue will secure it by building the social license for change, while ensuring some measure of accountability for the injustices of the fossil fuel era.</p>
<p>The more inclusive the dialogue, the better the government will be able to minimise political backlash as decarbonisation accelerates.</p>
<h2>A national net zero summit</h2>
<p>To reach these outcomes will need significant coordination between federal, state and local governments, and across government departments.</p>
<p>To jumpstart this process, and building on the success of <a href="https://nexteconomy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/TNE-CQ-Energy-Futures-Report-02_0601.pdf">regional summits</a>, a national summit should be convened to explore the perspectives and initiatives of a wide range of stakeholders. That means not just unions and workers (as important as they may be) but also climate and energy NGOs, local governments and historically marginalised communities.</p>
<p>A net zero summit would place the perspectives of policy elites and incumbent interests in dialogue with the diverse demands of citizens. It must include Indigenous communities, on whose lands much of the renewable energy infrastructure is likely to be built and critical minerals likely to be extracted.</p>
<p>Debate at the summit cannot be perfunctory. It must provide ample space for many voices. The goal is to discover, propose and fund a net zero transition in ways that don’t unduly privilege the needs of investors and companies, but instead champion the wisdom and solutions of local communities.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-juukan-gorge-how-first-nations-people-are-taking-charge-of-clean-energy-projects-on-their-land-213864">Beyond Juukan Gorge: how First Nations people are taking charge of clean energy projects on their land</a>
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</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn Eckersley has received research funding in the past from the Australian Research Council and she currently hold a research grant with the Research Council of Norway. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Fitz-Henry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Australia’s clean energy transition cannot succeed unless the government opens debate and decision-making to many more voices.
Robyn Eckersley, Redmond Barry Professor of Political Science, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne
Erin Fitz-Henry, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Melbourne, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218239
2023-11-26T19:20:42Z
2023-11-26T19:20:42Z
Green growth or degrowth: what is the right way to tackle climate change?
<p>Nearly all the world’s governments and vast numbers of its people are convinced that addressing human-induced climate change is essential if healthy societies are to survive. The two solutions most often proposed go by various names but are widely known as “<a href="https://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/whatisgreengrowthandhowcanithelpdeliversustainabledevelopment.htm#:%7E:text=Green%20growth%20means%20fostering%20economic,which%20our%20well%2Dbeing%20relies.">green growth</a>” and “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04412-x">degrowth</a>”. Can these ideas be reconciled? What do both have to say about the climate challenge?</p>
<p>The crude version of green growth – the solution that dominates the discourse of developed countries – is essentially that technology will save us if we get the incentives right. We can stick with the idea that economic growth is the central determinant of human flourishing, we just need technological fixes for unsustainable industrial practices. These will emerge if we get prices pointing in a green direction, which is first and foremost about carbon taxes.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-973" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/973/534c98def812dd41ac56cc750916e2922539729b/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Yet this sort of thinking still seems head-in-the-sand. Yes, the <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/what-is-the-difference-between-absolute-emissions-and-emissions-intensity/">emissions intensity</a> of per-capita GDP growth <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-intensity?tab=chart&country=USA%7ECHN%7EIND%7EIDN%7EDEU">is generally falling</a>, in part because added economic value increasingly comes from ideas not widgets.</p>
<p><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/sweden">Sweden, for example</a>, has increased its GDP by 76% but its domestic energy use by only 2.5% since 1995. But we are still <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01702-w#:%7E:text=The%20planet%20is%20on%20track,cross%20the%20line%20much%20sooner.">missing carbon reduction deadlines</a> by wide margins and struggling to enact meaningful carbon pricing.</p>
<h2>Eco-socialism and political suicide: the caricature of degrowth</h2>
<p>The crude version of degrowth is that to ensure sustainability, GDP must contract. Endless growth got us to where we are, and endless growth will kill us. We need to throw out the status quo and make our revolutionary way to eco-socialism. Rich countries need to stop where they are and transfer wealth to poor countries so we can equitably share what we have.</p>
<p>This sort of thinking is <a href="https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/degrowth-we-cant-let-it-happen-here">easily caricatured</a> as political suicide and more likely to undermine enthusiasm for sustainability than achieve it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-nuclear-the-answer-to-australias-climate-crisis-216891">Is nuclear the answer to Australia's climate crisis?</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Yet these caricatures can be easily dismissed. While it’s hard to pin down exactly what each camp stands for, since they represent amorphous agglomerations of ideas in a fast-moving discourse, it’s clear many advocates of both green growth and degrowth are sophisticated in their views and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800919319615">share many points of agreement</a>. </p>
<h2>Where green growth and degrowth agree</h2>
<p>The first is that contemporary industry is too environmentally intensive – it crosses multiple planetary boundaries in its carbon emissions, ocean acidification, nitrogen, phosphorus loading and so on.</p>
<p>Second, to avoid ecological collapse, sectors such as fossil fuels, fast fashion, industrial meat farming, air travel, plastics and many more need to draw down their economic activity.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, other sectors need to grow. These include clean energy, obviously, but also biodegradable materials, green steel and pesticide-free agriculture, on and on. Effecting this structural transition will require <a href="https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/publications/green-new-deal-and-carbon-taxes-can-work-together/">both carbon taxes and more muscular</a> industrial policy of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/climate/green-new-deal-questions-answers.html">Green New Deal</a> sort.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/too-hard-basket-why-climate-change-is-defeating-our-political-system-214382">Too hard basket: why climate change is defeating our political system</a>
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<p>Third, environmental damage is both licensed and exacerbated by a narrow policy focus on <a href="https://data.oecd.org/gdp/gross-domestic-product-gdp.htm">gross domestic product</a> (GDP). We need to shift priorities away from GDP and towards frameworks and budgets – such as those used in <a href="https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/higher-living-standards/our-living-standards-framework">New Zealand</a>, the <a href="https://www.act.gov.au/wellbeing">Australian Capital Territory</a> and other places – that do a far better job than GDP does of measuring whether we are using our resources effectively to advance human wellbeing.</p>
<p>And many of these wellbeing goals can be achieved using a fraction of the wealth of advanced nations. For example, Cuba, with about <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=CU">an eighth of the GDP</a> per capita, has similar <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/americans-can-now-expect-live-three-years-less-cubans-1739507">life expectancy</a> and <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/literacy-rate-by-country">literacy rates</a> to the United States.</p>
<h2>New ways to measure and increase human wellbeing</h2>
<p>A complementary approach is to <a href="https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/research/research-projects/wealth-economy-social-and-natural-capital/">measure comprehensive wealth</a> – financial, natural, human, and social – rather than income. If economic activity substitutes a relatively small amount of financial capital concentrated in few hands for a huge amount of natural capital, then it isn’t sustainable nor does it increase total wealth.</p>
<p>Finally, we need to measure productivity – the extent to which we can do more with less. Economic growth models stress that only <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solow%E2%80%93Swan_model">long-run improvements in productivity</a> lead to sustained increases in wealth. Simply increasing investment, of the kind associated with extractive industries, provides only a transitory boost.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-beat-rollout-rage-the-environment-versus-climate-battle-dividing-regional-australia-213863">How to beat 'rollout rage': the environment-versus-climate battle dividing regional Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another virtue of productivity growth is <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/epp/irle/irle-blog-pages/schumpeters-theory-of-creative-destruction.html">creative destruction</a>: when innovation clears out outmoded industries, ideas, and ways of working. Today creative destruction is held back by the power of vested interests, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-deal-with-fossil-fuel-lobbying-and-its-growing-influence-in-australian-politics-188515">notably in fossil fuels</a>, to lobby governments to slow the industrial transition required to address climate change.</p>
<p>Quality of life frameworks, wealth accounts, and productivity growth all have problems and present measurement difficulties, but they point us in the right direction. They help us to understand GDP as a means, not an end. Twentieth century statistics cannot measure 21st century progress.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-new-dawn-becoming-a-green-superpower-with-a-big-role-in-cutting-global-emissions-216373">Australia's new dawn: becoming a green superpower with a big role in cutting global emissions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Green growth and degrowth advocates also agree that getting people to practise less carbon intensive lifestyles, especially in rich countries, is politically and culturally difficult. Witness the recent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/02/spain-puts-limits-on-air-conditioning-and-heating-to-save-energy">outcry in Spain</a> when the government legislated that public and commercial buildings could not be cooled below 27 or heated above 19 degrees respectively.</p>
<p>That’s why sweeteners are fundamental to the political logic of Green New Deals: for example, the proceeds of carbon taxes can be returned to households as compensation.</p>
<h2>Where green growth and degrowth disagree</h2>
<p>What green growth and degrowth advocates disagree most about is how deeply we need to alter our political economy to survive climate change. </p>
<p>Green growth is broadly optimistic about the capacity of liberal democracy’s incremental style to get the green transition done in time. It has faith in markets, and even as it recognises the need for green industrial policy it is cautious about government’s ability to micromanage it.</p>
<p>Degrowth believes something more radical is in order, with equality at its core. We need to understand what is “sufficient” for people to live good lives, and then redistribute from people who have far more than they need to people who have much less.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-urgently-needs-a-climate-plan-and-a-net-zero-national-cabinet-committee-to-implement-it-213866">Why Australia urgently needs a climate plan and a Net Zero National Cabinet Committee to implement it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This approach would include the provision of energy-efficient social housing, and international aid for green development. Government must adopt the climate transition as its mission in the manner of winning a total war. It must get involved in the economy and society in a big way, including by regulating things like private jets and low emission traffic zones.</p>
<p>The problem for degrowthers is that getting such a radical agenda off the ground requires first and foremost a change in public values. But the movement’s focus on international political economy – its tendency to target its efforts at bureaucrats and quasi-governmental agencies like the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> (IPCC) – undermines cultural change by feeding populist narratives about technocratic overreach.</p>
<p>Spain’s experience illustrates that citizens haven’t internalised the sorts of lifestyle changes degrowth believes are required. Politically hopeless slogans like “degrowth” that don’t even capture the essence of the movement need to be tossed out, and much more attention needs to be given to marketing the experience of living green in sustainable societies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Fabian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
One set of ideas runs counter to the mainstream consensus that technology will save us from climate change. Can degrowth ever win enough converts to persuade humanity to change course?
Mark Fabian, Assistant professor of public policy, University of Warwick
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214867
2023-10-04T10:06:05Z
2023-10-04T10:06:05Z
How we hired 2023 Nobel laureate Anne L'Huillier – and why we knew she was destined for greatness
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551821/original/file-20231003-29-rkpekw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C3%2C1061%2C925&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">L'Huillier and her husband at the Nobel prize celebration in Lund. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sune Svanberg</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of the atomic physics division at Lund University were assembled in a spacious room with a big screen to await <a href="https://theconversation.com/nobel-prize-in-physics-awarded-for-work-unveiling-the-secrets-of-electrons-214880">the announcement of the 2023 Nobel laureates in physics</a> from the Royal Academy of Sciences on October 3. Of course, the Nobel secrecy is perfect, but there was still some expectation in the air.</p>
<p>When the screen with the laureates appeared, and with our colleague <a href="https://www.atomic.physics.lu.se/research/attosecond-physics-from-lasers-to-applications/group-members/anne-lhuillier/">Anne L'Huillier´s</a> face included, the roar almost lifted the roof – the big lasers in the basement must have been brought out of alignment! </p>
<p>L'Huillier, however, was nowhere to be seen – she had been giving a lecture to students.</p>
<h2>New laser facility</h2>
<p>About 30 years ago, the atomic physics group in Lund was considering a new research orientation. We ultimately selected the field of high-power laser-matter interaction. For this purpose, we managed to acquire a quite unique laser in 1992 (called a terawatt laser), firing 10 ultrashort pulses per second. </p>
<p>This was possible thanks to good academic contacts with leading laser groups in the US and Europe, as well as with industrial partners. The generous support by the <a href="https://www.wallenberg.org/en">Wallenberg Foundation</a> (a key player in Swedish research financing) secured the realisation of arguably the most attractive system at the time for performing advanced research in a novel field of atomic physics. </p>
<p>At this point, L'Huillier was an up and coming researcher in France. Only years earlier, in 1987, had she discovered that many different overtones of light arise when you transmit infrared laser light through a noble gas – as a result of the gas and laser interacting. </p>
<p>With our new facility, we were able to attract L´Huillier to come to Lund with her own dedicated experimental set-up. This came quite naturally since we had, as project preparation, also visited the <a href="https://www.cea.fr/english/Pages/Welcome.aspx">CEA Saclay Center</a> where she was employed. I also invited her to be one of the key speakers at the inauguration of our new facility in Lund.</p>
<p>When on site for the experiments, it immediately became clear to us that L'Huillier was an extremely talented physicist, both regarding experiments and theory, with great promise for the future. We published our <a href="https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.48.4709">first joint paper</a> in 1993.</p>
<p>L'Huillier felt good about Lund and, for many different reasons, decided to stay on. At first, she was employed on a lectureship and later on a dedicated professorship, which we got funded. This was a strike of luck for Lund – L'Huillier could easily have obtained prestigious positions elsewhere. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="L'Huillier." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552020/original/file-20231004-27-ub1q9e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552020/original/file-20231004-27-ub1q9e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552020/original/file-20231004-27-ub1q9e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552020/original/file-20231004-27-ub1q9e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552020/original/file-20231004-27-ub1q9e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552020/original/file-20231004-27-ub1q9e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552020/original/file-20231004-27-ub1q9e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">L'Huillier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sune Svanberg</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She was also very dedicated to learning Swedish. That says a lot. In a small country like Sweden, the natural language in an international endeavour like science is English, but L'Huillier became absolutely fluent in our “exotic” language.</p>
<p>At an early stage, I transferred the leadership of the high-power Laser laboratory to L´Huillier and <a href="https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/lucat/user/b397f426de6e2a942dbab05b63c2a3e7">Claes-Göran Wahlström</a>. With the help of many talented collaborators, the field has developed tremendously in Lund, making it one of the leading hubs in this fascinating research field. </p>
<p>L´Huillier energetically pursued her work with <a href="https://www.rp-photonics.com/high_harmonic_generation.html">high harmonics</a> and the associated formation of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03047-w#:%7E:text=Attosecond%20pulses%20can%20reveal%20what,has%20happened%E2%80%9D%2C%20says%20Nisoli.">attosecond laser pulses</a>. These were the areas for which she ultimately won the Nobel prize – work that has helped scientists gain a window into the high-speed world of electrons.</p>
<p>In particular, she could show that processes earlier considered to occur instantaneously in fact come about with an extremely short delay.</p>
<h2>Modest and rigorous</h2>
<p>L´Huillier is absolutely brilliant. Despite that, she has always had quite a low-key personality. She cares a lot for her collaborators and students. It is perhaps her modesty and lack of interest in fame and glamour that makes her such a great physicist. She doesn’t cut corners and has a deep, genuine interest in science. </p>
<p>She has been, and is, a true role model for young scientists – female and male alike – showing how excellent research can be combined with enthusiastic teaching. </p>
<p>L´Huillier eventually talked to the Royal Academy in Stockholm during a scheduled break in her class. She later joined our celebration party, beaming and extremely happy. Clearly this was the ultimate achievement, the diamond among the many other distinctions she had already received. </p>
<p>The celebrations went on all afternoon, together with university leadership and students alike. L´Huillier was in an endless row of interviews. Receiving the highest scientific award will certainly change her life, but I am sure that she will always remain the same generous and modest person that we all came to know her as. </p>
<p>Our warmest congratulations to our “own” Nobel laureate!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sune Svanberg is an emeritus professor at Lund University, who received the initial funding for the build up of the Lund High Power Laser Facility.</span></em></p>
L'Huillier was busy teaching when she her Nobel prize was awarded.
Sune Svanberg, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lund University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214880
2023-10-03T19:26:40Z
2023-10-03T19:26:40Z
Nobel prize in physics awarded for work unveiling the secrets of electrons
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551709/original/file-20231003-21-aqjkmc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C26%2C964%2C607&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Screenshot at</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2023 Nobel prize in physics <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2023/press-release/">has been awarded</a> to a trio of scientists for pioneering tools used to study the world of electrons.</p>
<p>Electrons are sub-atomic particles that play a role in many phenomena we see every day, from electricity to magnetism. This year’s three Nobel physics laureates demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light in order to investigate processes that involve electrons.</p>
<p><a href="https://physics.osu.edu/people/agostini.1">Pierre Agostini</a> from The Ohio State University in the US, <a href="https://www.mpg.de/348075/quantum-optics-krausz">Ferenc Krausz</a> from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany and <a href="https://www.atomic.physics.lu.se/research/attosecond-physics-from-lasers-to-applications/group-members/anne-lhuillier/">Anne L’Huillier</a> from Lund University in Sweden will share the prize sum of 11 million Swedish kronor (£822,910). </p>
<p>Changes in electrons typically occur in a few tenths of an “attosecond”, which is a billionth of a billionth of a second. In order to study such brief events, special technology was needed. </p>
<p>The laureates developed experimental methods that produced pulses of light so short that they are measured in attoseconds. These could then be used to study the fleeting dynamics of electrons in physical matter – something that wasn’t previously possible.</p>
<p>The attosecond pulses, the shortest flashes of light ever produced, sparked a revolution in photonics – the science of light waves. They were used to take snapshots of electrons in different physical systems, such as in atoms, chiral molecules – molecules that are mirror images of one another – and very tiny nanoparticles among others.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-an-attosecond-a-physical-chemist-explains-the-tiny-time-scale-behind-nobel-prize-winning-research-214907">What is an attosecond? A physical chemist explains the tiny time scale behind Nobel Prize-winning research</a>
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<p>The laureates have all contributed to enabling the investigation of such processes. For the first time, these quick pulses allowed scientists to match up the time scale of their observations to the natural, very fast time scales at which electron dynamics occurred.</p>
<p>This achievement required significant innovations in laser science and engineering – innovations that this year’s Nobel laureates worked on for decades.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Anne L´Huiller, Lund University." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551714/original/file-20231003-23-smtq3j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551714/original/file-20231003-23-smtq3j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551714/original/file-20231003-23-smtq3j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551714/original/file-20231003-23-smtq3j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551714/original/file-20231003-23-smtq3j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551714/original/file-20231003-23-smtq3j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551714/original/file-20231003-23-smtq3j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Anne L´Huiller, Lund University.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>L’Huillier discovered a new effect that arose as the result of interactions between laser light and atoms in a gas. This interaction could be used to produce pulses of ultraviolet light that were each a few hundred attoseconds long. </p>
<p>Agostini and Krausz took this discovery even further. In 2001, Agostini was able to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1059413">produce short light pulses</a> and measure their width. The series of bursts produced using something called the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2017.0475">RABBIT technique</a> lasted just 250 attoseconds. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Ferenc Krausz." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551850/original/file-20231003-23-u8z27z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551850/original/file-20231003-23-u8z27z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551850/original/file-20231003-23-u8z27z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551850/original/file-20231003-23-u8z27z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551850/original/file-20231003-23-u8z27z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551850/original/file-20231003-23-u8z27z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551850/original/file-20231003-23-u8z27z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ferenc Krausz.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>At around the same time, Krausz developed a different experimental approach, using it to successfully <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/35107000">isolate a light pulse</a> that lasted 650 attoseconds.</p>
<p>The two approaches developed by Agostini and Krausz form the basis for much attosecond research carried out today.</p>
<h2>Exciting applications</h2>
<p>There are some exciting potential applications for these attosecond pulses. </p>
<p>They could be used to study previously <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2023/10/advanced-physicsprize2023.pdf">unknown physical phenomena</a> in different types of material.</p>
<p>A spin-off area known as <a href="https://site.physics.georgetown.edu/%7Evankeu/webtext2/Workspace/Optical%20telecom/webpage%20directories/ultrafast%20switching.htm">ultra-fast switching</a> could also one day lead to the development of very fast-working electronics.</p>
<p>Attosecond pulse science could also find uses in medical diagnostics. By exposing a blood sample to a very fast pulse of light, scientists can detect tiny changes in the molecules in that sample. This could lead to a new way of diagnosing disorders, including cancer.</p>
<p>Our team at King’s has been working to combine the resolution on physical processes that attosecond pulses enable with novel <a href="https://www.attokings.com/">advances in quantum information processing</a>. This would create pulses of quantum light at the attosecond time scale that could have applications in quantum computing.</p>
<p>The award of the Nobel prize in this field inspires us to redouble our efforts to break novel ground. We wish our colleagues continued success, and we are eager to see what they will surprise us with next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amelle Zaïr receives funding from EPSRC, STFC XFEL hub and The Royal Society.</span></em></p>
The 2023 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”.
Amelle Zaïr, Senior Lecturer of Physics, King's College London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213124
2023-09-21T08:01:25Z
2023-09-21T08:01:25Z
Professionals in Sweden are pushing back hard against a rightwing plan to make them snitch on undocumented migrants
<p>Workers in the welfare sector are currently giving Sweden’s government a significant headache in a dispute about upholding professional ethics. They are opposing a planned law that would require them to “snitch” on undocumented migrants. And since the successful implementation of the law would require their cooperation, the policy has reached something of an impasse.</p>
<p>The political crisis centres on a proposal to force doctors, social workers, dentists, teachers and other welfare professionals to report undocumented patients, clients and students to the police. This is a demand many professionals, <a href="https://www.arbetsvarlden.se/facket-vision-angiverilagen-tvingar-till-rasprofilering/">their unions</a> and even <a href="https://skr.se/skr/tjanster/pressrum/nyheter/nyhetsarkiv/skranmalningspliktkrockarmedflerabefintligalagar.74587.html">employer associations</a> argue is fundamentally antithetical to <a href="https://www.dagensmedicin.se/opinion/debatt/att-anmala-papperslosa-patienter-strider-mot-var-professionsetik/">professional ethics</a> and obligations to care for and serve all. </p>
<p>Experts in the fields of <a href="https://www.raddabarnen.se/globalassets/dokument/tidoavtalet-och-barnratten_web.pdf">human rights</a> and <a href="https://www.arbetarskydd.se/nyheter/niklas-selberg-inspektorer-kan-inte-folja-angiverilag/3928147">labour law</a> have questioned the legality and reasoning behind the law, <a href="https://arbetet.se/2023/09/08/jurist-talar-om-angiverilagen-vi-skulle-hamna-i-samma-klubb-som-osttyskland/">some comparing</a> it to the kind of peer-surveillance that characterised the Soviet Union. Some doctors, teachers and social workers have <a href="https://viangerinte.se/">pledged to resist</a> and <a href="https://lakartidningen.se/aktuellt/nyheter/2023/03/vardanstallda-lovar-att-vagra-plikt-att-anmala-papperslosa-i-kampanj/">break the law if it is introduced</a>. And, recently, <a href="https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/15bljQ/manga-protesterade-mot-informationsplikt">thousands of people</a><a href="mailto:https%3A//www.tv4.se/artikel/4mN6JGLlV6Y0toQysdZaPO/stor-demonstration-mot-angiverilagen">gathered</a> in Stockholm and Gothenburg to protest on the matter.</p>
<p>The proposal was introduced last year as part of the so-called <a href="https://via.tt.se/data/attachments/00551/04f31218-dccc-4e58-a129-09952cae07e7.pdf">Tidö agreement</a>, a document outlining the basis of cooperation between the government parties – liberals, conservatives, Christian democrats and the radical right-wing Sweden democrats. While the agreement covers several policy areas, migration and border control take centre stage. Four goals are outlined, aiming to bring about a “paradigm change” in asylum, immigration and integration policies.</p>
<p>The goals outlined in the agreement are similar to the British Home Office’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-immigration-policy-has-made-britain-a-precarious-place-to-call-home-95546">hostile environment policy</a> introduced a decade ago. This consisted of a number of administrative and legislative measures designed to encourage or force people without residency permits to leave the country of their own accord. They might, for example, find it impossible to rent accommodation or register with a doctor.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/86d0da68f7204b138d0b8d2b98463ef7/regeringsforklaringen-2023.pdf">recent speech</a> in parliament, prime minister Ulf Kristersson promised that Sweden’s intake of refugees will be kept at an “EU minimum”, implying the nation will meet its obligations but do no more than absolutely necessary. Last year, <a href="https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/d6ad6308cc984aa1903d9a542ce1421c/regeringsforklaringen-2022.pdf">he claimed</a> that immigration and “failed integration” of migrants are key drivers of Sweden’s economic and social problems.</p>
<p>The Tidö agreement reflects this narrative and promises to introduce a “requirement-based” integration policy, as opposed to a rights-based policy. Migrants will face tougher demands to learn Swedish and secure employment, but there may also be language testing for small children and aptitude tests to establish which migrants can remain in the country based on how well they have behaved. </p>
<p>Migrants living in “exposed communities” – a term referring to areas characterised by <a href="https://polisen.se/om-polisen/polisens-arbete/utsatta-omraden/">“low socio-economic status”</a> where “criminals impact local communities” – could expect to receive house calls from the authorities and to be stopped and searched on the street.</p>
<h2>Pushing back</h2>
<p>In December last year, two months after the Tidö agreement was made public, more than 4,000 healthcare workers signed a <a href="https://www.aftonbladet.se/debatt/a/Xbovar/4-006-vardanstallda-vi-vagrar-ange-vara-patienter">petition</a> against it. They argued that its proposals were racist and antidemocratic. They were especially critical of the plan to take in fewer refugees as part of the UNHCR resettlement programme and of the suggestion to detain asylum seekers for longer periods. The stop-and-search policies were a particular concern from a human rights perspective.</p>
<p>But it is the Tidö agreement proposal to force public sector workers to report undocumented migrants that has caused the strongest outcry. The proposal, which is <a href="https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/6b1c7e2d05a9435d8143a0a1b91f4754/tillaggsdirektiv-till-utredningen-om-starkt-atervandandeverksamhet-ju-2022-12-dir.-2023-126.pdf">currently being drafted</a> into law by a government-appointed committee, was quickly dubbed “the snitch law” and protesters were soon seen wielding placards stating that care workers and teachers are just that. They are not border police.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration of a person holding their finger up to their lips with the words 'the library won't report' in Swedish above and below." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548540/original/file-20230915-17-sg2z43.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548540/original/file-20230915-17-sg2z43.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548540/original/file-20230915-17-sg2z43.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548540/original/file-20230915-17-sg2z43.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548540/original/file-20230915-17-sg2z43.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548540/original/file-20230915-17-sg2z43.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548540/original/file-20230915-17-sg2z43.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A campaign poster reads ‘the library won’t report’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=180413761639133&set=pb.100090115292182.-2207520000&type=3">Facebook/vi anger inte campaign</a></span>
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<p>One explanation for why the proposal has provoked such a strong response among welfare professionals is that it affects close to 1 million workers. They belong to professions whose ethical principles are in direct opposition to the idea of creating further hardships for those served.</p>
<p>For a long time, Swedish agencies and professional associations have defined best practice as never mixing border patrolling and care. This was affirmed in 2018, <a href="https://www.arbetsdomstolen.se/media/ucnpjvm3/48-18.pdf">when a court decided</a> that it was fair to terminate a dental hygienist’s employment after he had reported undocumented migrants to the migration agency. </p>
<p>One labour lawyer <a href="https://www.svd.se/a/zE104q/tommy-iseskog-ar-det-mojligt-att-infora-en-angiverilag">concluded</a> that the applicable principle is to consider reporting (or snitching) unreasonable. Making it an obligation would represent a sea change in the expectations on professional behaviour.</p>
<p>Yet this is precisely what the Tidö agreement demands of Swedish teachers, nurses, therapists and social workers – a sea change in behaviour. Questions have been asked about what will happen if they refuse. If a teacher doesn’t report a student, will the headteacher be forced to report the teacher? And if the headteacher refuses to report the teacher, will the headteacher be reported and sentenced?</p>
<p>The protests call attention to public sector workers’ professional identities and ethics, and the political potential enshrined in those positions. The government is being called out for wanting care workers and teachers to abandon established and cherished codes of conduct and it is unclear what will happen if they continue to refuse. </p>
<p>One option would be an embarrassing climbdown on the policy. But these measures are a priority for the Sweden Democrats, so another option would be to pull the plug on the Tidö agreement. That could bring the government down altogether.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213124/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Selberg receives funding from Vetenskapsrådet, The Swedish Research Council. </span></em></p>
Doctors, teachers and dentists are to be forced to report undocumented migrants to the authorities but they are refusing to comply.
Rebecca Selberg, Associate Professor of Gender Studies, Lund University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208666
2023-09-01T11:26:18Z
2023-09-01T11:26:18Z
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden: 50 years of banal royalism
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-britains-tears-for-queen-elizabeth-mean-190784">death of Queen Elizabeth II</a> in September 2022 and the subsequent <a href="https://theconversation.com/king-charles-iiis-coronation-oath-is-a-crucial-part-of-the-ceremony-experts-explain-202870">coronation of King Charles III</a> eight months later, were international media events of historic proportions. People around the world observed, in close detail, how the UK’s royal institution consolidates its authority by using ritual to link to the past. </p>
<p>Over the weekend of September 15 and 16 2023, Sweden will celebrate its own royal occasion, the golden jubilee of King Carl XVI Gustaf. This represents a significant national moment. Several TV documentaries have been made. A plethora of books and magazines have been published. Podcasts have been recorded.</p>
<p>Since the 1970s, the Swedish crown has gained its legitimacy and popular support by being perceived as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08038740.2013.808261">being above politics</a>. This contemporary monarchy was the result of constitutional reforms implemented in the 1970s, which renounced extravagance and ritual. </p>
<p>The Swedish royal family garners notably less attention worldwide than the British monarchy. Where the British coronation ceremony, replete with ritual magic and religious symbolism, is notable for its extravagance, Sweden is characterised by a distinctive <a href="https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/the-king-and-public-power-in-the-minimalist-monarchy-of-sweden">monarchical minimalism</a>. </p>
<p>Our research shows that having little political power is precisely what gives the royal family continued cultural and political relevance in modern Sweden. This may be of interest to the British royal family if their popularity continues to decrease over time.</p>
<h2>Towards a low-key monarchy</h2>
<p>Of the nine remaining hereditary monarchies in Europe, the Swedish monarchy has the least power and resources. All European royal families are essentially politically powerless and play a minimal role in their governments’ affairs. However, quite how their constitutional role – and the societal and political meaning afforded them – is shaped, differs by country. </p>
<p>After Oscar II was crowned King in 1873, Sweden eschewed coronations in favour of a simpler – and crucially less expensive – inauguration. Royal regalia including the crown, sword and sceptre, were displayed, but not handed to the monarch.</p>
<p>From the 1950s, the political parties in Sweden agreed that <a href="https://www.google.se/books/edition/Monarkins_makt/pdnZLGg5i1sC?hl=sv&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">constitutional reform was necessary</a>. Reaching agreement on the fundamental principles, however, was a complicated, long-winded process. Many members of the Social Democratic party were pushing for the country to become a republic, while the more conservative voices sought to retain the monarchy.</p>
<p>In August 1971, a cross-party committee of inquiry convened in Torekov, a coastal town in southern Sweden, and agreed on what became known as the <a href="https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/portalfiles/portal/83875920/Wenander_The_King_and_Public_Power_in_the_Minimalist_Monarchy_of_Sweden_in_Hazell_Morris_The_role_of_Monarchy_in_Modern_Democracy_2020.pdf">Torekov compromise</a>. </p>
<p>This stipulated that the country would not become a republic with an elected president. Instead, it would remain a constitutional monarchy, with the Bernadotte dynasty holding the throne. The king, however, would be stripped of all constitutional powers – including the power to appoint the prime minister, sign government bills and preside over cabinet meetings. </p>
<p>The new constitution of 1974 drastically reduced the Swedish monarchy. As former prime minister Olof Palme <a href="http://www.olofpalme.org/1972/10/07/avslutningsanforande-vid-saps-kongress-3/">put it</a>: “There is only a plume left, a decoration.”</p>
<p>To Palme’s mind, very little now stood in the way of abolishing the monarchy entirely.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/deip5iuMyqA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>In 1979, the Swedish parliament voted to introduce gender-neutral succession. This placed the royal couple’s first-born child, a girl, ahead of her brother. By doing away with this antiquated tradition of male-preference primogeniture, the monarchy was aligned with modernity. This reflected the societal push for gender equality.</p>
<h2>An ordinary (royal) family</h2>
<p>After the 1974 constitutional shift, the media, too, emphasised the family’s ordinariness, their <a href="https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?dswid=-1131&pid=diva2%3A1699695&c=5&searchType=RESEARCH&language=sv&af=%5B%5D&aq=%5B%5B%7B%22personId%22%3A%22authority-person%3A88331%22%7D%5D%5D&aq2=%5B%5B%5D%5D&aqe=%5B%5D&noOfRows=50&sortOrder=author_sort_asc&sortOrder2=title_sort_asc&onlyFullText=false&sf=all">“just like us”</a> quality. </p>
<p>Royal birthdays, marriages, deaths and births have, since the 1970s, been framed in <a href="https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A181195&dswid=1549">emotional and intimate</a> terms, as <a href="https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:211721/FULLTEXT01.pdf">moments of national pleasure</a> unrelated to politics and government.</p>
<p>The Year with the Royal Family has been part of Christmas scheduling on public service TV since 1977. This show introduces viewers to the royals’ everyday life and festive celebrations. A typical scene from 1985 features the family making sausages in the palace kitchen – the king in a red cardigan, the children in matching white aprons. Four decades on, it continues to be used in <a href="https://www.svenskdam.se/webb-tv/mera-kott-se-den-ikoniska-julfilmen-pa-kungafamiljen/5960501">media coverage</a>. </p>
<p>In 2010, the crown princess Victoria’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_of_Victoria,_Crown_Princess_of_Sweden,_and_Daniel_Westling">marriage to Daniel Westling</a> drew thousands of people to Stockholm and was broadcast live to <a href="https://www.svt.se/kultur/sa-manga-sag-prinsbrollopet">3.2 million viewers</a>. This emotional narrative centred on the couple being <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315884783-5/royal-love-anna-adeniji">modern and gender-equal</a>. Westling, a personal trainer, was <a href="https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A860520&dswid=-1131">often referred to</a> as a “man of the people”. </p>
<p>These media portrayals have sought to underline quite how ordinary the royal family is and how the public might identify with them. Yet it is this very ordinariness that, paradoxically, confirms their special status. It is special that they are just like us, which of course confirms that they are not. </p>
<p>This specialness is clearly illustrated in the annual Nobel prize ceremony. The king hands out the medals on behalf of the Nobel committee. Pundits, meanwhile, focus on what the royal women are <a href="https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A181195&dswid=-4036">wearing</a>. Media research has <a href="https://ojs.ub.gu.se/index.php/tgv/article/view/4276/3470">shown</a> how the queen, in particular, becomes the focal point of the televised Nobel banquet – an aspirational symbol of traditional, ideal femininity and class.</p>
<p>In his 1995 book, <a href="https://thecharnelhouse1.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/michael-billig-banal-nationalism-sage-1995.pdf">Banal Nationalism</a>, British social psychologist Michael Billig unpicks how nationalism is reproduced in everyday life via ordinary, unremarkable reminders. </p>
<p>Similarly, we might talk about “banal royalism” to describe how closely tied the Swedish royal institution is to the private lives of ordinary citizens – their superiority accentuated by their proximity to normal people.</p>
<p>It is precisely the monarch’s lack of political power and the royal family’s ordinariness that account for their strong position and the influence they continue to wield within Swedish society. If the Torekov compromise rendered Swedish royals <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08038740.2013.808261">powerless</a>, it also gave the monarchy continued leverage. </p>
<p>The forthcoming golden jubilee, however, might just see this change. Members of the nationalist Sweden Democrats have argued for <a href="https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/motion/grundlag_h802797/">reintroducing</a> previously discarded royal ceremonies and <a href="https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/motion/aterforande-av-ansvaret-for-aproposals%20-ny_ha02799/">returning formal powers</a> to the king. </p>
<p>These proposals may turn out to be a threat to the monarchy precisely because they politicise the institution. We insist that giving political power back to this enduring national symbol could well mark its demise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cecilia Åse receives funding from The Swedish Research Council,The Riksbank's Anniversary Fund, The Wallenberg Foundation and Författarförbundet. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mattias Frihammar receives funding from The Swedish Research Council,The Riksbank's Anniversary Fund</span></em></p>
Having little political power has long been what has given the Swedish royal family its continued cultural and political relevance in modern times.
Cecilia Åse, Professor of Gender Studies, Stockholm University
Mattias Frihammar, Associate Professor of Ethnology, Stockholm University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211849
2023-08-29T12:26:36Z
2023-08-29T12:26:36Z
Quran burning in Sweden prompts debate on the fine line between freedom of expression and incitement of hatred
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544675/original/file-20230824-19-8rlhm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=168%2C38%2C8433%2C5665&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Iraqis raise copies of the Quran during a protest in Baghdad, Iraq, on July 22, 2023, following reports of the burning of the holy book in Copenhagen.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/QuranProtests/a55d505a51d943e58a22e22e6536ba60/photo?Query=raqis%20raise%20copies%20of%20the%20Quran%20during%20a%20protest%20in%20Tahrir%20Square%20on%20in%20Baghdad,%20Iraq&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=779&currentItemNo=0&vs=true">AP Photo/Hadi Mizban</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Swedish government is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sweden-raise-terrorist-threat-assessment-daily-dn-2023-08-17/">concerned about national security</a> following several incidents involving the burning of the Quran that have provoked demonstrations and outrage from Muslim-majority countries.</p>
<p>The spate of Quran-burning incidents followed <a href="https://www.thequint.com/news/world/far-right-leader-rasmus-paludan-burns-quran-in-sweden-worldwide-condemnation-from-muslims-turkey-saudi-pakistan">an act of desecration</a> by far-right activist Rasmus Paludan on Jan. 21, 2023, in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. On Aug. 25, Denmark’s government said it would “criminalize” desecration of religious objects and moved a bill <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/world/europe/denmark-quran-burning.html#:%7E:text=Denmark's%20government%20said%20on%20Friday,in%20many%20Muslim%2Dmajority%20countries.">banning the burning of scriptures</a>. </p>
<p>While freedom of expression is a fundamental human right in liberal democracies, the right to express one’s opinion can become complex when expressing one’s views clashes with the religious and cultural beliefs of others and when this rhetoric veers into hate speech.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.arminlanger.net/">scholar of European studies</a>, I’m interested in how modern European societies are trying to navigate the fine line between freedom of expression and the need to prevent incitement of hatred; a few are introducing laws specifically addressing hate speech. </p>
<h2>Death penalty for insulting God and church</h2>
<p>Since medieval times, because of the dominant role of Christianity in political and cultural life, blasphemy against Christian beliefs in European countries was severely punished. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108242189.018">the Danish Code from 1683 punished people</a> by cutting off their tongue, head or hands. Similarly, in Britain, both on the main island and in its overseas colonies, blasphemy was punished with executions. In 1636, English Puritan settlers in Massachusetts <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/anti-blasphemy-laws-have-a-history-in-america/">instituted the penalty of death</a> for blasphemy. </p>
<p>For centuries, blasphemy laws were viewed by religious and civil leaders as safeguards for keeping society orderly and strengthening religious rules and influence. These laws showed how much power and influence religious groups wielded back then. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544778/original/file-20230825-21-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white painting showing a church leader holding a crucifix and wood being piled up to burn a man, while a crowd looks on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544778/original/file-20230825-21-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544778/original/file-20230825-21-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544778/original/file-20230825-21-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544778/original/file-20230825-21-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544778/original/file-20230825-21-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544778/original/file-20230825-21-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544778/original/file-20230825-21-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A painting showing a man being executed for heresy in July 1826.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/AUTODAF%C3%89_A_VALENCE_%28Juillet_1826%29.jpg">(E)manccipa-Ment via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the Enlightenment, from the 1600s to the 1700s, <a href="https://world101.cfr.org/contemporary-history/prelude-global-era/what-enlightenment-and-how-did-it-transform-politics">religious institutions began losing power</a>. Advocating for a strict separation of church and state, France became the first country to repeal its blasphemy law in 1881. Seven other European countries repealed their laws between the 1900s and 2000s, including <a href="https://www.eurel.info/spip.php?rubrique542&lang=en">Sweden</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/02/denmark-scraps-334-year-old-blasphemy-law">and, more recently, Denmark</a>.</p>
<h2>European landscape of blasphemy laws</h2>
<p>Several countries in Europe retain blasphemy laws, but their approaches are highly varied. Often the laws may not prevent present-day acts like dishonoring of religious texts. </p>
<p>In Russia, legislators introduced a federal law in 2013 <a href="https://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/3729/13-05-03-LA-russia.pdf">criminalizing public insults</a> of religious beliefs. This followed some provocative performances by the Moscow-based feminist protest art group Pussy Riot. One such protest, a “punk prayer,” in a Moscow cathedral in 2012 criticized the close ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Putin regime. </p>
<p>Since 1969, the German penal code has forbidden the public slander of religions and worldviews. While Germany rarely enforces this law, in 2006 an anti-Islam activist got a <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-who-made-koran-toilet-paper-escapes-jail-1.1019869">one-year suspended prison sentence</a> for distributing toilet paper with the words “Quran, the Holy Quran” printed on it. </p>
<p>Austria and Switzerland have laws quite similar to Germany’s in this regard. In 2011, a person in Vienna was fined for calling the Islamic prophet Muhammad a pedophile. This case later went up to the European Court of Human Rights, which supported the Viennese court’s decision. The court said that the person wasn’t trying to have a useful discussion but instead <a href="https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?library=ECHR&id=003-6234980-8105265&filename=Judgment%20E.S.%20v.%20Austria%20-">just wanted to show that the prophet Muhammad shouldn’t be respected</a>.</p>
<p>Spain, too, takes a <a href="https://www.mjusticia.gob.es/es/AreaTematica/DocumentacionPublicaciones/Documents/Criminal_Code_2016.pdf">strong stance against religious disrespect</a>. Its penal code makes it a crime to publicly belittle religious beliefs, practices or ceremonies in a way that could hurt the feelings of followers. While Spain introduced this law to safeguard Catholic interests, <a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/essays/national-laws-on-blasphemy-spain">it also covers religious minorities</a>. </p>
<p>Italy, another Catholic-majority country, punishes acts deemed to be disrespectful to religions. Its penal code has been used to punish actions that insult Christianity. For example, in 2017 <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/410323/hogre-jesus-chared-with-public-offense-italy/">authorities charged an artist</a> for depicting Jesus with an erect penis.</p>
<h2>Contemporary debate</h2>
<p>The Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark, aren’t random – they’re part of a broader agenda of targeting Muslims that’s <a href="https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/burning-the-quran-is-not-free-speech/">being pushed by far-right groups</a> across Europe. </p>
<p>In many European countries, lawmakers and others are asking whether these book burnings should be seen as exercises of free expression or more as incitement based on religion. </p>
<p>A few countries are introducing new legislation to <a href="https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/2064/1/Amicus76_Kearns.pdf">curb hate speech against religious communities</a>. For example, in 2006 England got rid of the blasphemy law and <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/2490/introduction/made">introduced The Racial and Religious Hatred Act</a>, which makes it an offense to stir up religious hatred. After repealing its blasphemy law in 2020, Ireland has been discussing the introduction of a <a href="https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/74ed9-new-bill-to-tackle-hate-crime-and-hate-speech-includes-clear-provision-to-protect-freedom-of-expression/">hate speech law</a>, which will criminalize any communication or behavior that is likely to incite violence or hatred.</p>
<p>Sweden passed a hate speech law in 1970 protecting racial, ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. Swedish authorities pointed to this legislation when they <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-police-approve-small-anti-koran-demonstration-mosque-2023-06-28/">took action against a Quran-burning incident</a> that occurred in front of a mosque in June 2023. </p>
<p>The police argued that the Quran burning wasn’t just about religion but specifically <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/why-does-sweden-allow-quran-burnings-it-has-no-blasphemy-laws-/7190103.html">targeted the Muslim community</a>. This was evident, according to the authorities, as the incident took place in front of a mosque <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-police-approve-small-anti-koran-demonstration-mosque-2023-06-28/">during the Islamic holiday of Eid</a>, setting it apart from other burnings that took place outside of the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/14/copy-of-quran-desecrated-outside-stockholms-royal-palace">Swedish Royal Palace</a>, <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/swedish-police-grant-permit-for-protest-outside-iraqi-embassy-in-stockholm-where-quran-was-burned">the Turkish and Iraqi embassies</a> and other public spaces. Because of the existing hate speech law focusing on incitement against minorities rather than religions, the activist received a fine from the police.</p>
<p>In recent weeks, some have called for a stricter application of the hate speech law and have demanded a ban on all Quran-burning events for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66310285">implicitly inciting hatred against Muslims</a>. </p>
<h2>A global challenge</h2>
<p>This discussion isn’t limited to Europe alone. Even in the U.S., there’s an ongoing debate about the boundaries of free speech. The First Amendment of the Constitution allows free speech, which some can interpret as the right to burn holy books.</p>
<p>Terry Jones, for instance, is a controversial Christian pastor from Florida. He organized <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/florida-pastor-terry-joness-koran-burning-has-far-reaching-effect/2011/04/02/AFpiFoQC_story.html">Quran-burning events</a> in Gainesville in 2011 <a href="https://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012%2F04%2F29%2F211022">and 2012</a>. His only legal consequence was a <a href="https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2019/12/10/1045/">US$271 fine from Gainesville Fire Rescue</a> for not following fire safety rules. </p>
<p>Following Jones’ announcement that he was going to burn the Quran, President Barack Obama said that the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/president-obama-terry-jones-koran-burning-plan-destructive/story?id=11589122">pastor violated U.S. principles of religious tolerance</a>. Legal scholar <a href="https://law.yale.edu/jack-m-balkin">Jack Balkin</a> recommended <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/10/balkin.first.amendment/index.html">using free speech</a> in promoting pluralist values to counter Jones’ hatred. Scholar of law and religion <a href="https://talkabout.iclrs.org/authors-2/iclrs-authors/jane-wise/">Jane Wise</a> suggested that the <a href="https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2019/12/10/1045/">U.S. could follow the English example</a> by banning hate speech. </p>
<p>As societies change, I believe it has become important to recognize when freedom of speech has turned into promoting hatred. Figuring out where this boundary lies, understanding the standards applied and uncovering potential biases can spark important conversations. While a solution that applies to every single country may not exist, it’s essential to engage in this dialogue, recognizing its complexity and the varying perspectives across societies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Armin Langer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Several countries across Europe are introducing new legislation to curb hate speech against religions, even as they get rid of older blasphemy laws.
Armin Langer, Assistant Professor of European Studies, University of Florida
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211689
2023-08-16T14:14:02Z
2023-08-16T14:14:02Z
Understanding why burning the Qur’an isn’t illegal in Sweden means looking at the country’s long-held commitment to freedom of expression
<p>To people outside Sweden it may seem surprising that police have, on several recent occasions, granted people express permission to burn copies of the Qur’an in public. The incidents have caused upset and triggered a significant debate about the far right co-opting the right to free speech to spread hate for political gain. </p>
<p>But the fact that permits have been granted for these acts does not mean that Swedish authorities celebrate the message or even endorse it. Rather, it reflects the central role freedom of expression plays in the national constitution. </p>
<p>To fully understand this debate, one needs to look back at the history of Sweden’s commitment to freedom of expression.</p>
<h2>A pioneering law</h2>
<p>Starting in school, Swedish students learn about a period of parliamentary history between 1719 and 1772 called “the age of liberty”. This marked the end of autocratic monarchy and the beginning of an era of parliamentary power – a shift triggered by the death of the great warrior king, Karl XII (Charles XII), who had, despite a history of successful warfare, been defeated by Russia in Poltava 1709 and thereafter killed in combat in Norway, 1718.</p>
<p>This was a period of large-scale legislative projects and freedom of speech became central to the idea of freedom from tyranny. The most important piece of legislation was the <a href="https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/tryckfrihetsforordning-1949105_sfs-1949-105/">Freedom of the Press Act of 1766</a>, a law that aimed to protect freedom of information as a means of promoting democracy. </p>
<p>It has been amended since but its tenets remain the same. These tenets include a principle of “responsible publisher” (which means that the whole responsibility for a publication such as a newspaper lies on one single person – often the editor in chief), and a far-reaching protection for whistle blowers.</p>
<p>In 1990, the Freedom of the Press Act was followed by a <a href="https://www.government.se/articles/2023/01/freedom-of-expression-and-freedom-to-demonstrate-in-sweden/#:%7E:text=Freedom%20of%20expression%20in%20Sweden,without%20interference%20by%20the%20authorities.">Freedom of Expression Act</a>. This extended the protection of freedom of expression from the printed press to more modern forms of expression – radio, TV and some digital media (although not many forms of the latter from a contemporary perspective). </p>
<p>These constitutional statutes provide the world’s most far-reaching protection for media. It not only covered criminal responsibility but also private law. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61673676">Johnny Depp</a> would not have had a case in Sweden against Amber Heard for her article in a newspaper, to use a current example. She would have been free to write her views about him without being sued.</p>
<p>In addition to the two freedom of expression statutes, Sweden has two other basic laws, the government code and the Act on Succession. These four basic laws together form the <a href="https://www.riksdagen.se/en/how-the-riksdag-works/democracy/the-constitution/">Swedish constitution</a>. The most important act is the government code. It includes a chapter on basic human rights and freedoms, in many aspects similar to human rights catalogues in international law (such as the UN charter and the European convention) and different national laws.</p>
<p>An important difference between the Swedish human rights catalogue and those in other jurisdictions is that the first rule is on the protection of freedom of expression. This is broadly defined and includes freedom of speech, freedom of information, freedom of assembly, freedom of demonstration, freedom of association and freedom of religion. It is notable that this rule comes before rules protecting the right to life, privacy or ownership.</p>
<p>In Swedish legal culture, freedom of expression thus has a peculiar role as a superior human right. In legal cases, there is often a presumption in favour of protecting freedom of expression over other interests or values – such as privacy or honour.</p>
<p>This is also reflected in general criminal law. There are, as in all jurisdictions, many restrictions on freedom of expression in criminal law. It is unlawful to threaten, defame or harass. It is also unlawful to distribute child pornography, show sexual violence in public or to provoke a mob to attack someone. But the restrictions are often limited in scope.</p>
<h2>How the law deals with hate speech</h2>
<p>Sweden does not have a specific rule on hate speech. Instead there are three provisions that are considered as hate speech legislation. A provision in the criminal code states that when someone commits a crime with a hate motive, the punishment may be harsher. If someone tries to burn down a mosque because it is a mosque the punishment is more severe than if someone tries to burn down her school because it is her school, for example.</p>
<p>A second, infrequently used, provision in the same code prohibits unlawful discrimination. This is not to say that discrimination is not penalised, but it is more often handled within the civil law system rather than criminal law. The third provision that belongs to the hate speech category is named “incitement against an ethnic group”.</p>
<p>Incitement against an ethnic group has been central in the discussion of Qur’an burning in Sweden. It is the only criminal law rule that provides an opening for bringing charges against the people involved in these actions.</p>
<p>“Incitement against an ethnic group” has a misleading name because the rule does not, in fact, focus on “incitement” but on derogatory or defamatory comments against a group. It also protects not only ethnic groups but also religious groups. </p>
<p>Describing Muslims, to allude to the situation of the Qur’an burnings, as criminals would be criminal. But to burn the Qur’an is in itself not, according to the current formulation of the law, an attack on Muslims. It is rather seen as an attack on the religion of Islam. Such attacks are not illegal because the aim of the attack is not directed against a protected group of people but against a belief – an idea. That is not illegal.</p>
<p>In one of the most secular countries in the world, with a more than 250-year-old tradition of giving freedom of expression priority before all other interests, the presumption is that every expression is allowed. Even expressions that offend people. The current situation is not a bug of the Swedish legal system. It’s a feature.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mårten Schultz is affiliated with The Swedish Law and Internet Institute, a non-profit, non-political organization that works with freedom of speech issues on the Internet. He has several assignments for Government agencies, including The National Media Council (Statens Medieråd), The Crime Victim Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) and The Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen). </span></em></p>
The legal context behind a political controversy.
Mårten Schultz, Professor of Civil Law, Stockholm University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210086
2023-07-27T05:17:04Z
2023-07-27T05:17:04Z
Trapped in NATO antechamber, Kyiv eyes ‘military Marshall plan’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538365/original/file-20230719-27-87qf1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">f</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Strategy is a matter of choice. Turkey’s <em>in extremis</em> blessing of Sweden’s bid to join NATO, two days before the organisation’s Vilnius summit kicked off on 11 July, did not conceal the difficult equation that diplomats had to solve in the Lithuanian capital city: what status should Ukraine be granted? How could NATO get this war-torn European country out of its never-ending “in between” position, a <a href="https://cepa.org/article/grey-zones-are-green-lights-bring-ukraine-into-nato/">grey zone</a> and a strategic no man’s land that have left it vulnerable to those who deny it the right to exist? At the close of the meeting, it’s important o acknowledge that the circle has not been squared.</p>
<h2>The dangers of a conditional accession</h2>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_217320.htm">summit’s communiqué</a>, NATO members stated that “we fully support Ukraine’s right to choose its own security arrangements and declared that its "future is in NATO”. This is, of course, welcome and even Henry Kissinger, a famous proponent of realpolitik who was long opposed to Ukraine’s membership, <a href="https://www.economist.com/kissinger-highlights">shifted views earlier this year</a>. </p>
<p>Kyiv did not expect to immediately become the 33rd member of an organisation, which had been jolted back to life with the <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2023/06/01/sommet-globsec-a-bratislava">“worst of electroshock”</a>, as French president Emmanuel Macron phrased it, by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. However, US president Joe Biden cut the enthusiasm short: a <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4087518-biden-says-ukraine-not-ready-for-nato-membership/">“prematured” accession</a> would thrust NATO into a direct military conflict with Russia, which sees the Alliance as an existential threat. Volodymyr Zelensky himself admitted that his country could not join as long as the war was still being fought.</p>
<p>Yet in Vilnius, the purpose was to draft a clear and coherent roadmap for Ukraine, bold enough to dispel any attempts from the Kremlin to drive a wedge between the Allies; a springboard for Ukraine’s NATO membership rather than an alternative. All this, without taking the risk of extending the conflict.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Kyiv, the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_217320.htm">final communiqué</a> postpones Ukraine’s firm and final membership until the Greek calends: “We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met.”</p>
<p>The “infamous” sentence of the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/fr/natohq/official_texts_8443.htm">2008 Bucharest summit</a> – “We agreed today that [Georgia and Ukraine] will become members of NATO” – was a red flag for the Ukrainian authorities, the <em>status quo</em> negotiated in Vilnius is hardly more ambitious. As the former secretary-general of the alliance (2009-2014), <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/06/23/pour-la-paix-et-la-stabilite-en-europe-nous-devons-faire-entrer-l-ukraine-dans-l-otan-il-n-y-a-pas-d-autre-solution_6178828_3232.html">Anders Fogh Rasmussen</a>, warned, conditioning Ukraine’s accession to the cessation of hostilities can only encourage Vladimir Putin to pursue an endless war, <em>de facto</em> granting him a perpetual veto on Ukraine’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance.</p>
<p>Even once a ceasefire is agreed, nothing ensures that all Allies will unanimously sponsor Ukraine’s candidature. Thus, Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea becoming permanent – something that many regard as inevitable – could provide skittish member states with a convenient excuse to keep on blocking it. Diverging views before Vilnius – from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/07/world/europe/erdogan-zelensky-nato.html">Erdoğan’s unexpected <em>nihil obstat</em></a> (“Ukraine deserves NATO membership”) to Berlin’s <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-cant-have-nato-style-security-guarantees-scholz/">lukewarm position</a> – are weaknesses that Moscow could exploit. As <a href="https://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/europeans-defy-russia-at-strategy-summit-near-ukraine-border/news-story/db78834341daeeaee64d8ee43306b5ac">Zelensky warned</a>: “We must remember that every doubt we show here in Europe is a trench that Russia will definitely try to occupy.” </p>
<h2>How to deal with the “interim” period?</h2>
<p>In the absence of a prompt integration of Ukraine into NATO, much will depend on the political and military support delivered by the Allies, individually and collectively. This will be decisive to dissuade Russia from engaging into a new escalation and to place Ukraine in a strong negotiating position when time comes for a peace settlement.</p>
<p>The debate about “security guarantees” erupted right after the launch of the Russian “special operation”. In March 2022, following several rounds of Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, came up with an official proposal for a <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/na-peregovorah-iz-rosiyeyu-ukrayinska-delegaciya-oficijno-pr-73933">new mechanism of security guarantees</a> for Ukraine: his country would opt for a status of permanent neutrality if an “international treaty” would be signed by countries as guarantors of its security. Since then, however, neutrality for Ukraine has been relegated to the dustbin of history. </p>
<p>A group of eminent experts chaired by Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, and Rasmussen, grabbed the idea to suggest an ambitious <a href="https://rasmussenglobal.com/read-the-kyiv-security-compact/">“security compact”</a>. The report, submitted to the Ukrainian president on 13 September 2022, contains binding security guarantees that would allow the country, without renouncing an eventual adhesion to NATO, to conduct its own defence until it could benefit from the protection under the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty. France and the UK – both of which are nuclear powers – would be guarantors, having <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-france-joint-leaders-declaration/uk-france-joint-leaders-declaration">previously declared</a> that they stood ready to “help Ukraine defend itself in the long term”. The United States, Canada, and Poland would also sign on, committing to assist Ukraine with all the means in their power in the event of an aggression, based on bilateral arrangements.</p>
<h2>A military ‘Marshall Plan’</h2>
<p>This kind of military <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/05/ukraine-nato-security-guarantees/">“Marshall Plan”</a>, as Eric Ciaramella, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, coined it, would keep Ukraine under “qualitative military edge”, the technological and tactical advantage to deter and, if necessary, defeat a numerically superior adversary. The “Kyiv Security Compact” draws its inspiration from the <a href="https://dgap.org/system/files/article_pdfs/DGAP-PolicyBrief-2023-21-EN-BenTallis_0.pdf">“hedgehog theory”</a>, under which a state becomes so well armed that its enemies will not try to swallow it. Hence, Russia would be <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/perspectives/PE200/PE295/RAND_PE295.pdf">“deterred by denial”</a> from any further aggression. A framework modelled in part after the <a href="https://www.stimson.org/2023/red-cell-the-promise-and-pitfalls-of-an-israel-model-for-ukraine/">US government’s relationship with Israel</a>, which has <a href="https://uatv.ua/en/israel-could-become-one-of-the-guarantors-of-the-international-agreement-on-security-guarantees-for-ukraine-as-it-should-understand-us-like-no-other-zelensky-s-office-head/">influenced the Ukrainians</a> from the beginning and which Emmanuel Macron mentioned during <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/en/emmanuel-macron/2023/06/01/globsec-summit-in-bratislava">his speech at the Globsec forum</a> in Bratislava, Slovakia, on 1 June.</p>
<p>Today, the “Kyiv Security Compact” is embodied into the assurances offered, on the margins of the Vilnius summit, by the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/otan-sommet-ukraine-securite-idFRL8N38Y1SQ">G7 members</a>. The world powers <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/07/12/g7-joint-declaration-of-support-for-ukraine/">commit themselves</a> to “launch[ing] negotiations with Ukraine to formalise – through bilateral security commitments and arrangements aligned with this multilateral framework […] their enduring support to Ukraine”. This includes:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>security assistance and modern military equipment; </p></li>
<li><p>support to further develop Ukraine’s defence industrial base; </p></li>
<li><p>training for Ukrainian forces; </p></li>
<li><p>intelligence sharing and cooperation; </p></li>
<li><p>support for cyberdefence, security, and resilience initiatives, including to address hybrid threats. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The European Union could follow this path, and complement the G7’s offer with its own set of assistance measures. Since 23 June 2022, Ukraine is officially a candidate, and the meeting of the <a href="https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-7-2023-INIT/en/pdf">council on 29 June 2023</a> confirmed that the European Union is “ready to contribute, together with partners, to future security commitments to Ukraine, which will help Ukraine defend itself in the long term, deter acts of aggression and resist destabilisation efforts”.</p>
<p>At the second summit of the European Political Community in Moldova, one month before the Vilnius NATO summit, <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/post/17813">Zelensky asserted</a> that “Ukraine is ready to be in NATO”. His partners decided otherwise. The Ukrainian leader, who attended the inaugural meeting of the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_217652.htm">NATO-Ukraine Council</a> in the Lithuanian capital, does not leave with empty hands, however. His country will have access to a <a href="https://kyivindependent.com/kuleba-nato-allies-agree-on-simplified-procedure-for-ukraines-accession/">simplified and expedited procedure</a> for NATO accession, which acknowledges the progress made by Ukrainian forces. However, the president’s frustration was perceptible, which did not escape the attention of <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/07/12/west-offers-frustrated-ukraine-security-commitments-outside-nato-a81814">Moscow’s media</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_217104.htm">Jens Stoltenberg</a>, the Secretary-General of the Atlantic Alliance, stated that Ukraine is “now closer to NATO than ever before”. More realistically, one could say that the martyred country remains trapped in the antechamber of the new European security order.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his current position at the Oiip.</span></em></p>
The NATO summit in Vilnius has kicked the prospects of Ukraine’s membership into the long grass. Kyiv, however, has other security tricks up its sleeve.
Loïc Simonet, Researcher at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, Österreichisches Institut für Internationale Politik (OIIP)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209665
2023-07-13T13:09:08Z
2023-07-13T13:09:08Z
3 takeaways from the NATO summit – and where it leaves the military alliance
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537176/original/file-20230712-20641-prm6on.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C47%2C3185%2C2079&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Presidents Biden and Zelenskyy take to the stage.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NATOSummitBiden/cb891a9717f64b1ab201bde86fefcec8/photo?Query=nato&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=35514&currentItemNo=73">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The leaders of the 31 nations that comprise NATO made their way home on July 12, 2023, after concluding <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nato-summit-vilnius-lithuania-ukraine-6eff9f614dd01746280e43f0473b1a26">two days of highest-level diplomatic meetings</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>The summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius wasn’t just all talk – it provided an opportunity for the Western military alliance to reassess its purpose, size and structure in light of more than a year of war in Ukraine.</em></p>
<p><em>John R. Deni, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SKtbkskAAAAJ&hl=en">research professor</a> at the U.S. Army War College and author of “<a href="https://librarycatalog.ecu.edu/catalog/4809141">NATO and Article 5: The Transatlantic Alliance and the Twenty-First-Century Challenges of Collective Defense</a>,” was in Vilnius to attend a public forum on the side of the summit. The Conversation asked him for his main takeaways form the leaders’ meeting and what it suggests about the future of NATO.</em></p>
<h2>Ukraine gets some of what it wants</h2>
<p>The headlines from the summit were largely about what Ukraine really wanted – a clearly defined timeline to membership – and how <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66183066">NATO members fell short</a> on promising that.</p>
<p>But I think that downplays what <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/g7-offer-ukraine-security-framework-zelenskiy-asks-nato-allies-more-arms-2023-07-12/">Ukraine did achieve</a>. Germany, France and Norway pledged a significant increase in aid to Kyiv in the shape of tanks, long-range missiles and other military assistance that should be useful in Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive against Russia. Ukraine also secured further commitments to nonlethal assistance and training from NATO members.</p>
<p>And even on the issue of membership, there was progress that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy can take back to Kyiv. NATO members confirmed their commitment that Ukraine would become a member at some point and agreed to <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/nato-agrees-to-remove-membership-action-plan-requirement-for-kyiv-s-membership-ukraine/2941486">dispense with the the requirement of a memberhsip action plan</a>. The alliance similarly waived the membership action plan during Finland’s and Sweden’s bids, putting Ukraine in a select group of favored nations.</p>
<p>The summit also saw the first meeting of the <a href="https://time.com/6293378/nato-ukraine-council/">newly formed NATO-Ukraine Council</a> – a body formed to further signal NATO’s commitment to Ukraine membership.</p>
<p>Of course, this still fell short of Zelenskyy’s <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/11/nato-stops-short-of-ukraine-invitation-angering-zelenskyy">hopes of an “invite</a>” to NATO, or assurances that Ukraine would be accepted as a member as soon as the war is over.</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/ukraine/2023/07/11/ukraine-russia-live-war-updates/70401625007/">frustration on display</a> by Zelenskyy ahead of the meeting – and which I witnessed among some delegates at the public forum – appeared to dissipate during the summit itself. </p>
<p>In my view, Zelenskyy achieved all he could during the summit. Ukraine was embraced by NATO publicly and given clear shows of support and bilateral assistance from key members of the alliance. And that shouldn’t be overshadowed by some of the noises of disappointment or talk of Ukraine <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/urging-gratitude-weapons-uk-defence-minister-tells-ukraine-were-not-amazon-2023-07-12/">not showing enough “gratitude</a>” toward NATO members.</p>
<h2>Stronger with Sweden after Turkey relents</h2>
<p>Perhaps one of the biggest achievements of the summit occurred on the eve of the event itself, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/erdogan-proposes-letting-sweden-join-nato-in-exchange-for-a-path-for-turkey-to-join-the-eu">gave the green light</a> for Sweden to become NATO’s 32nd member.</p>
<p>Much like what happened with <a href="https://theconversation.com/finland-nato-and-the-evolving-new-world-order-what-small-nations-know-203278">Finland’s earlier successful bid</a>, Erdoğan had been holding out over what he perceived to be concerns over <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/sweden-supreme-court-approves-extradition-of-pkk-supporter-to-turkey/a-65854132">Sweden’s “harboring</a>” of members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK – an organization that Turkey, among others, has labeled a terrorist group.</p>
<p>Before announcing that Ankara would no longer stand in Sweden’s way, Erdoğan had suggested that his compliance on Sweden might be conditional on the European Union’s looking favorably on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/europe/erdogan-turkey-nato-eu-sweden-intl/index.html">Ankara’s own bid to join the economic union</a>. But it appears that was just spitballing on behalf of the Turkish president, wanting to see what additional concessions he might gain for approving Sweden’s bid. It doesn’t appear that it was a serious suggestion – and would in any case be a nonstarter, as the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/07/10/erdogan-s-nato-sweden-blackmail-dooms-turkey-s-eu-membership/77728246-1f5c-11ee-8994-4b2d0b694a34_story.html">European Commission itself acknowledged</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man in a dark suit waves in front of a blue screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537177/original/file-20230712-21-ho72pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537177/original/file-20230712-21-ho72pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537177/original/file-20230712-21-ho72pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537177/original/file-20230712-21-ho72pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537177/original/file-20230712-21-ho72pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537177/original/file-20230712-21-ho72pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537177/original/file-20230712-21-ho72pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrives at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/LithuaniaNATOSummit/4aad3925341443d584bd65a03c0419e4/photo?Query=nato%20erdogan&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1006&currentItemNo=25">AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Erdoğan’s about-face on Sweden allowed him to look magnanimous on the international stage, but it was likely rooted in domestic politics. His opposition to the Nordic states’ ascension to NATO should, I believe, be viewed in the context of a reelection bid for the long-serving Turkish leader. Polls had him lagging behind the main Turkish opposition candidate ahead of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-erdogan-held-onto-power-in-turkey-and-what-this-means-for-the-countrys-future-206293">May presidential vote</a>. He knew that taking a nationalist line on Sweden’s and Finland’s perceived lax attitude toward enemies of the Turkish state would play well to his base. Since he won the election, there is no real need for him to oppose NATO membership for either country.</p>
<p>The episode does raise concern that NATO could be beholden to nationalist self-interest in the future – but this is always a risk in a consensus-based organization of sovereign countries. But the counterbalance is that the alliance’s allies rarely want to be seen as being out in the cold on key issues. It was notable that a day after Erdoğan’s announcement, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/11/hungary-signals-it-is-ready-to-join-turkey-in-approving-swedens-bid-for-nato-membership">signlaled that he too</a> would now greenlight Sweden’s bid.</p>
<h2>Back to adversary-based military planning</h2>
<p>The alliance also <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_217320.htm">approved a pivot</a> in how it will conduct defense planning and how it views its strategic goals and objectives.</p>
<p>For the past 30 years, NATO planning has been geared around general threats rather than targeted at clear adversaries. That has now changed. The NATO <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_217320.htm">allies approved a new set of defense plans</a> that embody this new approach to how the alliance will protect and defend its members’ security. </p>
<p>In short, it has gone back to framing its capabilities (what it needs) and operations (where and how it deploys resources) around the idea of alliance members’ having clear adversaries.</p>
<p>This change of direction has been underway for a while. But the meeting in Vilnius provided the first opportunity for heads of states to give the new pivot their formal approval.</p>
<p>It changes the way NATO goes about its business. I wouldn’t say NATO has entirely gone back to a Cold War mentality – but it’s certainly conducting its business more like the way it did during the Cold War. </p>
<p>When it comes to who the adversaries are, the NATO summit <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_217320.htm">communiqué made it clear</a>: Russia is “the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area.” Added to this was the ongoing threat of terrorism.</p>
<p>And despite concern over the growing military threat from China, the Asian giant is not identified in the summit communiqué as a primary military threat to NATO nations. When NATO looks at the challenges facing Europe, it doesn’t see Chinese militarism as an existential threat to members. It is in the realms of cyberspace and space-based operations where it views China’s threat. At the same time, the communiqué made clear that NATO is open to engagement with China.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John R. Deni is a research professor at the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and an associate fellow at the NATO Defence College. He’s the author of NATO and Article 5. The views expressed are his own.</span></em></p>
As Western leaders depart a crucial summit, a NATO scholar parses what went down.
John Deni, Research Professor of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational Security Studies, US Army War College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209539
2023-07-11T15:32:11Z
2023-07-11T15:32:11Z
Sweden is joining Nato: what that means for the alliance and the war in Ukraine
<p>In a surprise move, Turkey <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/10/nato-sweden-pm-to-meet-with-turkeys-erdogan-in-last-ditch-bid-to-seal-membership">has ended</a> its <a href="https://www.fpri.org/article/2023/03/the-turkish-veto-why-erdogan-is-blocking-finland-and-swedens-path-to-nato/">veto</a> on Sweden joining Nato, thereby removing all the barriers to its membership of the military alliance. </p>
<p>Hungary quickly followed suit and, as a result of the two countries’ support, a consensus was able to be reached at the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/216570.htm">2023 Nato summit</a> in Vilnius, Lithuania. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreeing to support Sweden’s bid to join will be touted as one of the key achievements of the summit.</p>
<p>Sweden submitted its formal application for membership in May 2022 alongside Finland, which was <a href="https://theconversation.com/finland-joins-nato-in-a-major-blow-to-putin-which-doubles-the-length-of-the-alliances-border-with-russia-203217">admitted</a> into the alliance in April 2023. </p>
<p>Sweden, though not a formal member, has had a very close relationship with Nato for almost 30 years, since joining the alliance’s Partnership for Peace programme in 1994. It has contributed to Nato missions. And as a member of the European Union and contributor to the bloc’s <a href="https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/common-security-and-defence-policy_en">common security and defence policy</a>, it has also worked closely with the vast majority of European Nato allies. </p>
<p>In pursuing Nato membership, both Sweden and Finland have dramatically shifted their traditional policy of military non-alignment. A critical driver of this move was, clearly, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It is also more evidence that Russian president Vladimir Putin has failed to achieve two of his own strategic objectives: weakening solidarity in the alliance and preventing further Nato enlargement towards Russia’s borders.</p>
<p>Finland and Sweden’s accession is of significant operational importance to how Nato defends allied territory against Russian aggression. Integrating these two nations on its north flank (the Atlantic and European Arctic) will help to solidify plans for <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2023/07/02/nato-is-drafting-new-plans-to-defend-europe">defending</a> its Ukraine-adjacent centre (from the Baltic Sea to the Alps). This will ensure that Russia has to contend with powerful and interoperable military forces across its entire western border.</p>
<h2>Why Turkey lifted its veto</h2>
<p>For a few years now, Turkey’s relationship with Nato has been nuanced and strained. Turkey’s objections to Sweden’s accession were ostensibly connected to its concerns over Sweden’s policy towards the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. </p>
<p>Turkey has accused Sweden of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66160319">hosting Kurdish militants</a>. Nato has acknowledged this as a legitimate security concern and Sweden has made concessions as part of its journey towards Nato. </p>
<p>The main material driver of the agreement, however, may always have been a carrot being dangled by the US. American president Joe Biden now appears to be <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cd8e7cc1-30c8-4b53-a605-8524d5815156">moving forward with</a> plans to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Turkey – a deal that appears to have been unlocked by Erdoğan’s changed stance on Sweden. But it is often the case that a host of surrounding deals and suggestions of deals can help facilitate movement at Nato. Everyone, including Turkey, now seems able to sell the developments as a win to their constituents back home. </p>
<h2>The ‘Nordic round’</h2>
<p>Sweden’s accession means all Nordic nations are now part of Nato. As well as being significant in operational and military terms, this enlargement has major political, strategic and defence planning implications. Although Finland and Sweden have been <a href="https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/1466256/finland-sweden-and-nato-from-virtual-to-formal-allies/">“virtual allies”</a> for years, their formal accession means some changes in practice. </p>
<p>Strategically, the two are now free to work seamlessly with the rest of the Nato allies to plan for collective defence. Integrating strategic plans is extremely valuable, particularly considering Finland’s massive border with Russia and Sweden’s possession of critical terrain like the Baltic Sea island of Gotland. This will increase strategic interoperability and coordination.</p>
<p>Nato allies also open their defence planning books to one another in unprecedented ways. Finland and Sweden will now undergo bilateral (with Nato’s international secretariat) and multilateral (with all allies) examinations as part of the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49202.htm">Nato defence planning process</a>. They will also contribute to the strategic decisions that undergird that process.</p>
<p>Their defence investments will also be scrutinised (and they will scrutinise the spending of other allies). Initial analysis suggests that while Finland and Sweden have lagged behind their Nordic neighbours’ increases in <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_112964.htm">defence investment since 2014</a>. Finland’s investment in defence <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49198.htm">leapt significantly</a> leading up to and following its accession to Nato. While we may not know for months if the same is true of Sweden, we may expect similar increases on its part. Alliance norms and peer pressure are powerful.</p>
<p>The expansion of Nato to include Sweden is a major step for all these reasons. But while anyone watching the Vilnius summit will naturally now be asking whether the shift changes the situation for Ukraine’s membership aspirations, an answer is unlikely to be on the near horizon. Any final decision on Ukraine being offered a <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_37356.htm">membership action plan</a> for the time being is a bridge too far, especially in the current context of an ongoing war with an outcome that, as yet, is unpredictable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon J Smith receives funding from the British Academy for research on UK Civilian-Military relations and received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for research on the Drivers of Military Strategic Reform.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Becker receives funding from the European Research Council. He is affiliated with the United States Government as an active duty US Army Officer and Academy Professor at the United States Military Academy. This article reflects the authors' views alone and should not be construed as reflecting any official US Government policy.</span></em></p>
All Nordic states are now members of the military alliance, bolstering key border regions with Russia.
Simon J Smith, Associate Professor of Security and International Relations, Staffordshire University
Jordan Becker, Director, SOSH Research Lab Assistant Professor of International Affairs, United States Military Academy West Point
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209374
2023-07-10T17:26:03Z
2023-07-10T17:26:03Z
What’s on the agenda as Biden heads to NATO summit: 5 essential reads as Western alliance talks expansion, Ukraine
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536635/original/file-20230710-12553-71np5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C16%2C5442%2C3812&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A flagging alliance? Far from it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-july-10-shows-the-turkish-nato-and-news-photo/1518683648?adppopup=true">Yves Herman/AFP via Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Leaders of the nations comprising NATO will meet for a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/whats-table-nato-vilnius-summit-2023-07-07/">two-day summit</a> beginning on July 11, 2023.</p>
<p>The gathering in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, comes at a pivotal moment for the Western security alliance – it is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/10/1186712386/biden-is-in-europe-to-focus-on-u-s-alliances-and-nato-expansion">seeking to expand membership</a> and confront challenges ranging from the ongoing <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/ukraine-invasion-2022-117045">war in Ukraine</a> to a <a href="https://2017-2021.state.gov/chinas-military-aggression-in-the-indo-pacific-region/">perceived growing military threat</a> from China.</p>
<p>No doubt NATO members will want to present a united front at the meeting. But on a number of key issues, not everyone is in agreement. Here are some of the issues likely to be discussed and debated during the leaders’ summit.</p>
<h2>1. A pathway to Ukraine membership?</h2>
<p>With war in Europe the obvious backdrop to the summit, much talk will be about Ukraine. NATO members have been aiding Kyiv individually, through the supply of arms and aid. And the military alliance has been assisting through nonlethal support, such as medical supplies and training. But, as noted by <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/gov/webber-mark.aspx">Mark Webber</a>, professor of international politics at the U.K.’s University of Birmingham, what many in Kyiv <a href="https://theconversation.com/nato-vilnius-summit-will-reflect-fresh-sense-of-purpose-over-ukraine-war-but-hard-questions-remain-over-membership-issues-208293">really want is full membership</a>: “The bigger prize for Ukraine, however, is NATO membership. That would bring the country within the collective defense provisions of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and, in effect, extend U.S. – and U.K. – nuclear guarantees to Ukrainian territory.”</p>
<p>Webber noted that accommodating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for “expedited” membership of the alliance will be difficult. “No one in NATO is arguing in favor of granting membership while Ukraine remains at war. Beyond that, the allies are divided.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nato-vilnius-summit-will-reflect-fresh-sense-of-purpose-over-ukraine-war-but-hard-questions-remain-over-membership-issues-208293">Nato: Vilnius summit will reflect fresh sense of purpose over Ukraine war – but hard questions remain over membership issues</a>
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<h2>2. What about Sweden?</h2>
<p>The NATO leaders’ summit will be the first at which the members present will include Finland, which joined in April. Fellow Nordic state Sweden is hoping to be next, perhaps even officially becoming the group’s 32nd member at the Vilnius meetup. </p>
<p>Sweden’s ascension had been held up by NATO member Turkey. Turkey’s recently reelected leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had previous blocked the bid due to what he saw as the Swedish government’s reluctance to crack down on Kurdish “terrorists” being “harbored” in Sweden. But on the eve of the Vilnius summit, it was announced that Erdoğan had agreed to forward Sweden’s bid to the Turkish parliament for ratification.</p>
<p><a href="https://ii.umich.edu/ii/people/all/r/rgsuny.html">Ronald Suny</a>, a historian at University of Michigan, noted that Erdoğan’s reluctance to allow Sweden and Finland entry represented domestic concerns – international pressure on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, fits his agenda of suppressing Kurdish rights in Turkey. But it also highlights an <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-turkey-isnt-on-board-with-finland-sweden-joining-nato-and-why-that-matters-183277">underlying problem the alliance is facing</a>:</p>
<p>“NATO is supposed to be an alliance of democratic countries. Yet several of its members – notably Turkey and Hungary – have moved steadily away from liberal democracy toward ethnonational populist authoritarianism,” Suny wrote. “Finland and Sweden, on the other hand, fulfill the parameters of NATO membership more clearly than several of the alliance’s current members. As the United States proclaims that the war in Ukraine is a struggle between democracy and autocracy, Turkey’s opposition to the Nordics who have protested its drift to illiberalism are testing the unity and the ideological coherence of NATO.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-turkey-isnt-on-board-with-finland-sweden-joining-nato-and-why-that-matters-183277">Why Turkey isn't on board with Finland, Sweden joining NATO – and why that matters</a>
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<h2>3. The benefit of being a NATO member</h2>
<p>But why would Finland, Sweden, Ukraine and any other country look to join NATO? John Deni at American University School of International Service explained that Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-poland-demand-nato-act-in-event-of-russian-attack-an-expert-explains-article-4-and-5-commitments-following-missile-blast-194714">calls for collective action</a> should any member be attacked.</p>
<p>“Article 5 really is the heart and soul of the NATO alliance. It is the part of the treaty that says that if one member is attacked, then all of the other members will treat it as an attack on them all. In effect, it calls for a collective response once requested by any of the current 30 members of NATO and invoked by the entire alliance,” he wrote.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the U.S. would have to mount a military response should an ally be attacked. “Article 5 was written in such a way that it allows each ally to decide for itself the best course of action to take – there is no prescribed response once the article is invoked,” Deni added.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-poland-demand-nato-act-in-event-of-russian-attack-an-expert-explains-article-4-and-5-commitments-following-missile-blast-194714">Could Poland demand NATO act in event of Russian attack? An expert explains Article 4 and 5 commitments following missile blast</a>
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<h2>4. The end of the neutral option?</h2>
<p>As Finland’s and Sweden’s desire to join NATO shows, smaller nations traditionally seen as aspiring to neutrality are, in the words of University of Michigan’s Ronald Suny, “recalculating how they fit into this renewed division of the world.”</p>
<p>Suny noted that, with Finland’s entry into NATO and the now high chance of once-neutral Sweden joining it, <a href="https://theconversation.com/finland-nato-and-the-evolving-new-world-order-what-small-nations-know-203278">other states are questioning</a> “the efficacy of nonalignment in a polarized world.” </p>
<p>“In its place, we have the ‘NATOfication’ of Eastern Europe – something that Putin unwittingly accelerated and which leaves Putin’s Russia with less accommodating neighbors,” Suny wrote.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/finland-nato-and-the-evolving-new-world-order-what-small-nations-know-203278">Finland, NATO and the evolving new world order – what small nations know</a>
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<h2>5. A cluster bomb controversy</h2>
<p>A last-minute area of controversy emerged as NATO leaders prepared to gather in Vilnius: cluster bombs.</p>
<p>On July 7, 2023, the Biden administration announced that it would supply Ukraine with the controversial munition, which scatters bomblets across a wide area. The problem is not all NATO countries are in agreement with the U.S. move. Germany, the U.K. and Canada – which are among the 120-plus countries that have signed an international treaty banning the use of cluster bombs – have all already expressed their misgivings.</p>
<p>Robert Goldman, a laws of war expert at American University, explained that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-no-legal-reason-the-us-cant-supply-cluster-bombs-to-ukraine-but-that-doesnt-make-biden-decision-to-do-so-morally-right-207717">White House had previously shown hesitancy</a> over selling cluster bombs to Ukraine in part because of the “optics” and over concerns that “it may introducing a wedge between the U.S. and other NATO countries.”</p>
<p>Goldman explained that there is no law preventing the U.S. from providing cluster bombs to the Ukraine or any other country. “Nonetheless, providing Ukraine with cluster weapons could serve to destigmatize them and runs counter to international efforts to end their use. And that, in turn, could encourage – or excuse – their use by other states that may be less responsible,” he argued.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-no-legal-reason-the-us-cant-supply-cluster-bombs-to-ukraine-but-that-doesnt-justify-bidens-decision-to-do-so-207717">There is no legal reason the US can’t supply cluster bombs to Ukraine – but that doesn’t justify Biden's decision to do so</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This article was updated on July 10, 2023 in light of Turkey agreeing to forward Sweden’s NATO bid for ratification.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Leaders of the Western military alliance meet in Lithuania with the ongoing war in Ukraine as a backdrop.
Matt Williams, Senior International Editor
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208293
2023-07-04T16:32:53Z
2023-07-04T16:32:53Z
Nato: Vilnius summit will reflect fresh sense of purpose over Ukraine war – but hard questions remain over membership issues
<p>The US president, Joe Biden, struck a bullish note during a recent meeting at the White House with Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/joe-biden-ap-nato-ukraine-jens-stoltenberg-b2368079.html">declaring</a>: “The allies have never been more united.” </p>
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<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/nato-vilnius-summit-will-reflect-fresh-sense-of-purpose-over-ukraine-war-but-hard-questions-remain-over-membership-issues-208293&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has certainly given Nato a fresh sense of purpose and momentum. Its credibility <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/26/nato-was-a-political-failure-in-afghanistan-says-defence-secretary">severely dented</a> by the disastrous retreat from Afghanistan in 2021, Nato has returned to what it is good at: the collective defence of Europe. </p>
<p>The 2022 Madrid summit agreed to a new <a href="https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/290622-strategic-concept.pdf">Strategic Concept</a> that gave priority to deterrence and defence and the beefing up of forces on the alliance’s eastern flank. In April this year, the accession of Finland enhanced Nato’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/19/finland-sweden-nato-maps/">presence in the Arctic and Baltic regions</a>. At the Vilnius summit, which begins on July 11, alliance leaders are expected to approve a set of <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2023/07/02/nato-is-drafting-new-plans-to-defend-europe">regional plans</a>, NATO’s most detailed defence documents since the end of the cold war. </p>
<p>In parallel, defence ministries have been working on new capability targets to fit a “New Force Model” agreed at Madrid. Progress toward boosting European armies’ combat readiness <a href="https://www.iiss.org/research-paper/2023/06/the-future-of-natos-european-land-forces/">has been mixed</a> – and a majority of the allies remain below Nato’s defence spending target of 2% of GDP. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535479/original/file-20230704-21-29rsm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Poster showing Nato soldiers to promote the summit in Vilnius in July 2023." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535479/original/file-20230704-21-29rsm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535479/original/file-20230704-21-29rsm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535479/original/file-20230704-21-29rsm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535479/original/file-20230704-21-29rsm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535479/original/file-20230704-21-29rsm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535479/original/file-20230704-21-29rsm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535479/original/file-20230704-21-29rsm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Pulling together: Vilnius looks forward to the Nato summit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Webber</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>But Russian belligerence has shifted the dial. All the allies, with the exceptions of the US and Turkey, <a href="https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/220627-def-exp-2022-en.pdf">have increased</a> defence spending relative to their countries’ GDP since Nato agreed the Defence Investment Pledge in 2014. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2023/world-military-expenditure-reaches-new-record-high-european-spending-surges">In 2022</a>, defence spending in central and western Europe was at its highest level in real terms since 1989. Diplomats already have a <a href="https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2023/07/03/defence-spending-sustaining-the-effort-in-the-long-term/index.html">favoured phrase</a> for the summit outcome – 2% will be the “floor” for defence spending not the “ceiling” of ambition. </p>
<h2>Work to be done</h2>
<p>But there is much still to be resolved. The most important issue, obviously, is Ukraine. Nato’s role has not been to arm Ukraine in its fight with Russia. That is a matter for individual allies with coordination overseen by the <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/05/24/nato-ukraine-military-aid-germany/">International Donor Coordination Centre</a> and the <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9477/CBP-9477.pdf">Ukraine Defence Contact Group</a>.
Neither of these is a Nato body (deliberately so, otherwise their workings would be subject to Nato’s cumbersome consensus rule). </p>
<p>Nato support has instead been through training and the provision of “<a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_37750.htm">non-lethal assistance</a>” such as rations, fuel and medical supplies. In April, Nato foreign ministers <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_213478.htm?selectedLocale=en">approved</a> “a strategic multi-year assistance programme” to extend that commitment. The Vilnius summit will sign it off. </p>
<p>The bigger prize for Ukraine, however, is Nato membership. That would bring the country within the collective defence provisions of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and, in effect, extend US (and UK) nuclear guarantees to Ukrainian territory. In September 2022, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/30/ukraine-applies-for-nato-membership-after-russia-annexes-territory">requested</a> “expedited” membership of the alliance. </p>
<p>This will be difficult to accommodate. No one in Nato is arguing in favour of granting membership while Ukraine remains at war. Beyond that, the allies are divided.</p>
<p>On the one hand, are those such as Poland, the Baltic States, the UK and tentatively France who want Vilnius to lay out a “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/26/estonia-prime-minister-ukraine-war-nato/">clear path</a>” to membership once the war is concluded. On the other is the US, backed by Germany, who seem to favour <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2023/06/21/nato-is-agonising-over-whether-to-let-ukraine-join">diplomatic ambiguity</a> so as to keep all options open (including delay) on the assumption that the war with Russia drags on indefinitely.</p>
<h2>Strong language (but little detail)</h2>
<p>Given all this, writing the summit declaration has proved to be challenging. At Vilnius, expect some strong language on Ukraine’s membership aspirations, but little detail on how that is to be achieved. </p>
<p>There is also no consensus on who will replace Stoltenberg as secretary general. Stoltenberg has been in the job since 2014 and has already had his term extended twice. He has openly voiced a <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_214381.htm">desire to retire</a> when his term ends in October. Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, has <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/06/21/nato-secretary-general-not-got-job-ben-wallace-defence/">indicated a desire</a> to replace him, but is supported in <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/politics/961379/was-ben-wallace-snubbed-for-top-nato-job">neither Washington nor Paris</a>. Stoltenberg is highly regarded and it won’t be a surprise if his term is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/29/stoltenberg-to-stay-on-as-nato-chief-another-year-00104198">extended yet again</a> at Vilnius. </p>
<p>Another spat has centred on Nato candidate Sweden. Expectations that Sweden (which applied for membership in parallel with Finland) would attend the Vilnius summit as a member have been dashed in the face of opposition from two existing members: Turkey and Hungary. </p>
<p>A Koran-burning episode in Stockholm at the end of June angered the recently reelected Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who had already complained of perceived Swedish support for Kurdish separatists. Talks between Turkish and Swedish officials scheduled for just before the summit might make progress. But Erdogan is <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/swedens-fraught-path-to-nato-accession/a-66085063">reportedly</a> also holding out for concessions from the US – including the approval of a blocked deal to purchase F-16 fighter jets. </p>
<p>Hungary’s objections seem more quixotic and may simply be <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-nato-sweden-bid-accession-block-democracy-viktor-orban/">designed to curry favour with Turkey</a>. This, at least, is encouraging. Should Erdoğan make a gesture at Vilnius to facilitate the ratification of Swedish membership, Hungary might then fall in line.</p>
<p>And finally, China. Nato’s 2022 <a href="https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/290622-strategic-concept.pdf">Strategic Concept</a> raised concerns at Beijing’s efforts “to increase its global footprint and project power”. In practical terms, Nato’s main effort in response has been to strengthen political ties with the Asia-Pacific Four (Australia, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand). </p>
<p>Vilnius is <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/07/02/national/nato-leaders-summit-japan-preview/">expected to endorse</a> individual partnership agreements with these countries. But broader issues of how Nato should position itself in a new era of Sino-US rivalry have largely disappeared from view as the political and strategic bandwidth of the alliance has been taken up by the Russia-Ukraine war. </p>
<p>So the Vilnius summit will make for interesting viewing, having, in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/13/biden-nato-stoltenberg-ukraine-russia/">words of</a> former US Nato ambassador Douglas Lute: “got everything from war to leadership succession”. For Lute, it’s likely to be “the most challenging” summit in Nato’s recent history. Until, that is, July 2024 when the alliance holds its 75th anniversary summit in Washington DC – just weeks before the commencement of the US presidential election campaign.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Webber is a non-resident associate fellow at the NATO Defence College in Rome. </span></em></p>
Nato leaders meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius next week - it won’t be plain sailing.
Mark Webber, Professor of International Politics, University of Birmingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206477
2023-06-02T13:35:30Z
2023-06-02T13:35:30Z
‘Clubbing a bunny to death is very effective but it sure does look bad’: the inside stories of urban animal control
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529813/original/file-20230602-17-yhsk0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=252%2C202%2C4347%2C3530&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Public acceptance of killing urban wild animals varies.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-shot-curious-cautious-cute-brown-1770620642">Elena Berd/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In July 2022, a walrus, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62556295">affectionately nicknamed Freya</a>, was culled near Norway’s capital city in the Oslo fjord – crowds of people approaching her meant there was a potential risk to human safety. The loss of this charismatic and seemingly peaceful animal sparked a global outcry. Last month, an online campaign funded the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/30/europe/freya-walrus-statue-unveiled-intl/index.html">erection of a statue</a> in Oslo in Freya’s honour.</p>
<p>But while some wild animal culls go viral, a great many more urban wildlife deaths go unnoticed and unchallenged. Rat carcasses, for example, are disposed of discreetly and urban residents even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/03/deer-hosts-for-ticks-experts-debate-rise-in-lyme-disease">push for increased culling of deer</a> that feed on their tulip beds or spread ticks. </p>
<p>To understand what determines the diverse reactions to animal culls, I <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/soan/aop/article-10.1163-15685306-bja10129/article-10.1163-15685306-bja10129.xml?language=en">interviewed and observed</a> municipal cullers in Sweden. These cullers do the dirty work of disposing of wild animals that pose a threat to biosecurity, public safety and human infrastructure. </p>
<p>It seems that while the species of animal predictably mattered, factors such as the location, timing, methods used, people involved and the reasons for the cull also influenced whether cullers encountered public opposition. Any misjudgement made in the culling process could have repercussions in terms of social acceptance, further complicating future culls. This is especially relevant in today’s world as people frequently use their mobile phones to record and share what they see.</p>
<h2>What and where to cull?</h2>
<p>Humans value some species over others (a concept called <a href="https://thehumaneleague.org/article/speciesism">speciesism</a>) and will defend them despite their damages being comparable. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/rat">Rats</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/rabbit">rabbits</a> both chew wires and transmit diseases and parasites, but the cullers we interviewed mentioned that “people have a whole different outlook” on these two species.</p>
<p>They also stated that “the cuter the critters, the bigger the villains we are, and vice versa”. In one instance, cullers were rewarded with cake after removing <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/wild-boar-1843748">wild boar</a> from an area where they were recently introduced. The boars were deemed “big and ugly and in the way, scaring children”. By contrast, when called in to kill large carnivores like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/gray-wolf">wolves</a> that had sustained injuries in traffic accidents, cullers had to mask their identities and often relied on police escorts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A grey wolf in a snowy forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529755/original/file-20230602-23-eq3f93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529755/original/file-20230602-23-eq3f93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529755/original/file-20230602-23-eq3f93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529755/original/file-20230602-23-eq3f93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529755/original/file-20230602-23-eq3f93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529755/original/file-20230602-23-eq3f93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529755/original/file-20230602-23-eq3f93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The grey wolf.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grey-wolf-snowy-forest-1585152148">GTS Productions/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People’s treatment of individual animals from the same species can vary. If large birds are perceived as causing disturbances to both people and recreational activities, they are often culled without much consideration. In 2018, for example, a male <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/swan">swan</a> living on a canal in the Swedish city of Malmö was <a href="https://www.thelocal.se/20190408/malmo-swan-shot-by-hunters-after-scaring-children">shot dead by professional hunters</a> after showing signs of aggression towards passers-by. But, as the swan was seen as a prominent feature of the city, the culler received death threats.</p>
<p>There are certain locations for which the killing of wild animals is deemed unacceptable by onlookers. The cullers we interviewed were expected to carry out their activities discreetly as they often faced criticism when culling animals in crowded areas. </p>
<p>Some cullers, for example, had experience killing rabbits and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/deer">deer</a> in kindergartens. One culler recalled having “to ask the kids to go inside” as it caused children distress to see animals being killed and regularly led to confrontation with teachers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young girl standing in front of a deer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529759/original/file-20230602-29-w4rese.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529759/original/file-20230602-29-w4rese.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529759/original/file-20230602-29-w4rese.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529759/original/file-20230602-29-w4rese.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529759/original/file-20230602-29-w4rese.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529759/original/file-20230602-29-w4rese.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529759/original/file-20230602-29-w4rese.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The killing of wild animals is deemed unacceptable in certain locations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-4-year-old-girl-temple-1624722184">Rachel Blaser/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>When, how and who?</h2>
<p>In line with operating discreetly, cullers noted having to become as crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) as the animals they hunted. One culler noted receiving “a lot less yelling at me and fewer questions when you’re out at night and early mornings”. </p>
<p>Animal culling can also be unpalatable to the eye. Certain culls – particularly those involving brute force or the deaths of other animals – violate public standards.</p>
<p>One culler explained that “clubbing a bunny to death is very effective and it dies right away, but it sure does look bad”. By contrast, those who had carried out culls using a shot with a silencer from a vehicle had encountered much less criticism. </p>
<p>Having the wrong people carry out animal culls risks upsetting bystanders. During our interviews, cullers emphasised the importance of being locally recognised, with good people management skills to defuse conflicts. One said: “The last thing you want is some macho hunter to come in and finish the job, with no people skills.”</p>
<h2>What’s the reason?</h2>
<p>Some animals are simply unwelcome in cities. The mere presence of wild boars in urban areas of Sweden still triggers culls, regardless of what they are doing. </p>
<p>However, certain animals were deemed cullable only under specific circumstances. If an animal was perceived as being behaviourally or geographically out of line, such as a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/moose-mammal">moose</a> terrorising shoppers outside a shopping centre, then the public generally supported its removal. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529758/original/file-20230602-23-s5w88a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small child is looking at two big big moose in the backyard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529758/original/file-20230602-23-s5w88a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529758/original/file-20230602-23-s5w88a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529758/original/file-20230602-23-s5w88a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529758/original/file-20230602-23-s5w88a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529758/original/file-20230602-23-s5w88a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529758/original/file-20230602-23-s5w88a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529758/original/file-20230602-23-s5w88a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People deemed certain animals such as moose (pictured) as cullable only under specific circumstances.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/small-child-looking-two-big-moose-2209423387">Birgit Ryningen/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in another example, cullers recounted having to involve the police to remove a girl who was protecting a moose that had been hit by a car. </p>
<p>So the public can be contradictory in its defence of animals. But cullers also exhibited similar idiosyncrasies themselves. One culler, who was routinely called out to cull birds in his city “drew the line” at culling a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/nightingale-bird">nightingale</a> that kept a resident up at night. </p>
<p>In some parts of the world, animal rights organisations call for lethal removals of problematic wildlife to be <a href="https://www.paws.org/resources/how-to-become-a-wildlife-rehabilitator/">replaced by rescues or relocations</a>. But the future is somewhat unpredictable. As cities continue to encroach on animals’ habitats, human interaction with wild animals will become increasingly common. </p>
<p>What’s clear, though, is that the situation calls for the development of a wildlife etiquette within the general public. This involves understanding how to behave in a manner that prevents the emergence of problematic wild animals in the first place. These animals are often faultless and have been conditioned to lose their shyness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206477/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica von Essen receives funding from Formas, Dnr 2019-01168</span></em></p>
Here’s what determines if a problematic wild animal is saveable or cullable.
Erica von Essen, Associate Professor of Environmental Communication, Stockholm University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203278
2023-04-05T12:26:34Z
2023-04-05T12:26:34Z
Finland, NATO and the evolving new world order – what small nations know
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519390/original/file-20230404-29-9zng90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C0%2C5150%2C3171&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Finnish military personnel raise their country's flag at NATO headquarters in Brussels.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/finnish-military-personnel-install-the-finnish-national-news-photo/1250764069?adppopup=true">Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the world of geopolitics, great powers make, break and play by their own rules. Smaller states largely have to make do with adjusting to the world as determined by others.</p>
<p>Which is why the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_213448.htm">decision by Finland</a> – a country of <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/finland-population">just 5.5 million people</a>, noted for decades as a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26999271">neutral presence in Europe</a> – to <a href="https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html">join NATO</a> is so important. It underscores just how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-has-exposed-the-folly-and-unintended-consequences-of-armed-missionaries-197609">upset global realities</a> long thought settled, at least by the Western powers.</p>
<p>The vaunted “<a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/what-does-rules-based-order-mean">rules-based order</a>” that the United States and its NATO allies have touted as the best way to run the world is changing – attracting some, yet more suspicious in the eyes of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-united-states-china-and-the-new-non-aligned-countries/">nations not privy</a> to club membership. Meanwhile, Russia and China are disputing the hegemony of the U.S. and the West over global affairs and seek a system in which <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-has-exposed-the-folly-and-unintended-consequences-of-armed-missionaries-197609">power is distributed regionally</a>, with Moscow and Beijing holding sway over what they they see as their parts of the world. </p>
<p>Smaller nations all over the globe are <a href="https://www.nysun.com/article/as-during-first-cold-war-an-anti-american-non-aligned-movement-grows">recalculating how they fit</a> into this renewed division of the world.</p>
<p>Finland is one such state and has made a dramatic choice. For centuries it has had to consider its own interests in conjunction with – and in accommodation of – those of its gigantic neighbor: czarist Russia, then the Soviet Union and today Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Through the years of the Cold War, Finland adopted a model of neutrality and accommodation in order to coexist with Russia. That way of dealing with a nearby neighboring great power was <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/02/11/what-is-finlandisation">known as “Finlandization</a>.”</p>
<p>With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, decision-makers in Helsinki have seemingly driven the final nails into the coffin of Finlandization. The worry for Putin – and perhaps the West – is that the model has not only been killed off for Finland; it is also dead as a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2014/03/06/finlandization-for-ukraine-realistic-or-utopian/">potential off-ramp solution</a> to the conflict in Ukraine.</p>
<h2>The past no longer as prologue</h2>
<p>After more than a hundred years within the czarist empire, Finland <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2018/01/finland-100-years-of-independence-global-legal-collection-highlights/">gained its independence</a> in 1917. For the next roughly 20 years it became an anti-Soviet outpost precariously positioned next to the USSR. </p>
<p>Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin saw Finland as a gateway to the communist state’s enemies. In his mind, Finland was an existential threat – similar to how <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/3874880-putin-says-ukraine-war-poses-existential-threat-to-russian-people/#:%7E:text=Putin%20says%20Ukraine%20war%20poses%20existential%20threat%20to%20'Russian%20people',-by%20Lauren%20Sforza&text=Russian%20President%20Vladimir%20Putin%20said,in%20its%20war%20in%20Ukraine.">Putin sees Ukraine</a> today.</p>
<p>After annexing eastern Poland and the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – after the signing of the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-soviet-pact">German-Soviet Pact of 1939</a>, Stalin demanded serious territorial concessions from Finland. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a-short-history-of-the-winter-war">resulting war</a> saw the Finns lose much of their eastern provinces, but they managed to preserve their independence – at some cost. The price for maintaining its democratic state and capitalist economy in domestic affairs during the Cold War was Finlandization.</p>
<p>Through the adapted model for neutrality, Finland was able to convince Moscow for more than a half-century that it was no threat but a loyal trading partner. </p>
<p>With the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, doubts about Finlandization <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/collapse-soviet-union">grew among Finns</a>. They debated whether they should consider joining the Western alliance.</p>
<p>But it was <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-did-russia-invade-ukraine-178512">Putin’s invasion of Ukraine</a> in 2022 that tipped the scales and finally convinced Helsinki that its security would be enhanced by becoming a member of NATO.</p>
<h2>The dilemma of neutrality</h2>
<p>The invasion also killed off any idea of Finlandization being a model for post-Soviet Ukraine as well.</p>
<p>For the past 30 years, independent Ukraine was viewed as a problem for Putin, who <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/03/putin-nato-finland-sweden-support-ukraine/626965/">feared its gravitation</a> toward the West. Similarly, even before the invasion last year, Russia was a problem for Ukraine, with authorities in Kyiv fearing dominance from the East.</p>
<p>Before the present war, the Finnish model of independence and neutrality was touted as a <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/ukraine-and-finlandization/">viable alternative to Ukraine</a> joining either NATO or drawing closer to the Russian-led strategic alliance, the <a href="https://en.odkb-csto.org/">Collective Security Treaty Organization</a>.</p>
<p>Finland’s experience in preserving its sovereignty by compromising its right to act completely independently in foreign policy might have been a viable model for former Soviet states, some observers held, especially in regards to Ukraine.</p>
<p>Findlandization might have also, so the thinking went, provided a solution to Ukraine’s internal divisions on the question of which to favor: the West or Russia. </p>
<p>Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Ukraine <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-follows-decades-of-warnings-that-nato-expansion-into-eastern-europe-could-provoke-russia-177999">swung between a pro-Russian orientation</a> favored in eastern Ukraine, and a more Ukrainian nationalist identity powerfully evident in western Ukraine. A Finlandization of Ukraine, coupled with the federalization of the various provinces of Ukraine, might have lessened political polarization with Ukraine and allayed the fears of the Russians, and Putin in particular. </p>
<p>Of course, history cannot be rewound; such alternative possibilities cannot be tested. And federalism, which would have required that some decision-making be handed to regional governments, was considered suspect as a viable form of statehood by many in Ukraine and Russia alike. A similar process of federalization was, after all, <a href="https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300106497.003.0033">blamed for the breakup</a> of the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>Moreover, events forced Ukraine’s hand. As Russia <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2022/03/how-russia-descended-into-authoritarianism">gravitated toward authoritarianism</a> and used its oil and gas as a weapon against Ukraine, the attractions of the West – democracy, prosperity and a shiny modernity – seemed far more enticing.</p>
<p>On the initiative of the United States, the West <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/29/1076193616/ukraine-russia-nato-explainer">vaguely promised Ukraine NATO membership</a>, which Russia found completely unacceptable. And the European Union offered Ukraine closer economic and political ties, stirring up fears in Moscow that this was the first step toward NATO.</p>
<p>After the Russian <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/03/17/crimea-six-years-after-illegal-annexation/">seizure of Crimea in 2014</a>, Ukrainians turned even more sharply toward the West and became more receptive to Western promises of NATO membership.</p>
<h2>‘Small nations can disappear’</h2>
<p>In hindsight, hopes that Ukraine could “Finlandize” or federalize were both casualties of Putin’s increasingly hard line toward Ukraine. </p>
<p>Finland’s entry into NATO marks the likely end of the Finlandization model. Even Finland has abandoned it; neutral Sweden is now anxious to join the Western alliance; and other states, even Switzerland, are questioning the efficacy of nonalignment in a polarized world.</p>
<p>In its place, we have the “NATOfication” of Eastern Europe – something that Putin unwittingly accelerated and which leaves Putin’s Russia with less accommodating neighbors. Meanwhile, countries like Finland and Sweden have been left with fewer options. “A small nation can disappear,” the Czech writer Milan Kundera <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1984/04/26/the-tragedy-of-central-europe/">reminds us</a>, “and knows it.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203278/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronald Suny does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A historian looks at the steps leading up to Finland joining the Western strategic alliance – and what that means for small nations elsewhere.
Ronald Suny, Professor of History and Political Science, University of Michigan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203217
2023-04-04T13:03:08Z
2023-04-04T13:03:08Z
Finland joins Nato in a major blow to Putin which doubles the length of the alliance’s border with Russia
<p>In 1948, the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance <a href="https://countrystudies.us/finland/24.htm">was signed</a> between the Soviet Union and Finland, providing a key basis for relations between the two states that was to last throughout the cold war. With memories of the 1939 “winter war” between the two still acute, the agreement embodied the <a href="https://dbpedia.org/page/Paasikivi%E2%80%93Kekkonen_doctrine">Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine</a>, named for two of Finland’s post-war presidents who developed the idea between 1946 and 1982 of a neutral Finland close to the USSR. </p>
<p>It also set the context for the term “<a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/02/11/what-is-finlandisation">Finlandisation</a>” used by international relations scholars to describe external interference by a powerful country in the foreign policy of a smaller neighbouring state. A year later, on April 4 1949, <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_17120.htm">the North Atlantic Treaty</a> was signed by the 12 founding members of Nato.</p>
<p>Throughout the cold war, <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/for-finland-the-cold-war-never-ended-thats-why-its-ready-for-nato/">Finland remained a neutral state</a> – although more due to circumstance than by choice. And despite its <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65164726">1,340km (832 mile) border</a> with Russia, it chose not to join Nato in the late 1990s, even as many of its eastern European neighbours did. It officially abandon its policy of neutrality in 1994, <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_50349.htm">joining Nato’s Partnership for Peace</a> and then the European Union <a href="https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/country-profiles/finland_en">in 1995</a>. But aspirations to become a full Nato member state had not quite matured. That all ended with Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.</p>
<p>Finland (and Sweden) <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_195468.htm">submitted their formal applications</a> to join the alliance on May 18 2022 and this was endorsed by Nato members at the most recent <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_196951.htm">summit in Madrid</a> in June. </p>
<p>Although accession to Nato membership was relatively quick, there were objections from some members, most notably Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Hungary. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/28/turkey-lifts-objections-to-finland-and-swedens-nato-bid#:%7E:text=Turkey%20had%20said%20it%20would,Workers'%20party%20(PKK).">Turkey</a> held up membership for Finland – and is still doing so for Sweden – due to its concerns over what it called support for terrorist groups, namely the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK). <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-parliament-backs-finland-nato-bid/">Hungary</a> also raised objections due to what it regarded as criticism by the Nordic states with regard to the strength of Hungarian democracy. But Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said recently he is confident that Sweden <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/nato-sweden-jens-stoltenberg-turkey-finland-elections/">could become a member by summer</a>.</p>
<h2>View from Moscow</h2>
<p>If Putin was hoping to achieve the Finlandisation of Nato as one of his strategic aims of the war, what he has actually achieved was the “Natoisation” of Finland since it has now become the <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_212288.htm">alliance’s 31st member state</a>. With this comes Article 5 guarantees – the an attack on one member is an attack on the alliance as a whole and must be responded to as such. This fundamentally changes the defence and security posture of Finland, and <a href="https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/how-finnish-and-swedish-nato-accession-could-shape-the-future-russian-threat">European security architecture</a> as a whole. Implications include the size and geographical focus of the alliance (even more so if Sweden joins in the not-too-distant future) as well as inter-organisational relations between Nato and the EU, the other key pillar of the European security architecture.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519309/original/file-20230404-27-fl0im9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Europe showing Finland and Russia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519309/original/file-20230404-27-fl0im9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519309/original/file-20230404-27-fl0im9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519309/original/file-20230404-27-fl0im9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519309/original/file-20230404-27-fl0im9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519309/original/file-20230404-27-fl0im9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519309/original/file-20230404-27-fl0im9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519309/original/file-20230404-27-fl0im9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The addition of Finland as its 31st member effectively doubles the length of the border between Nato and Russia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/finland-on-map-vector-color-ukraine-2157143065">buraktumler via Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And Finland is not playing catch up in order to meet its Nato commitments. In fact, Finland will be a net contributor to the alliance’s overall collective defence. Over recent years, it has been modernising its armed forces, purchasing robust military capabilities and, unlike the majority of member states, it meets the <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/for-finland-the-cold-war-never-ended-thats-why-its-ready-for-nato/">Nato target of 2% of GDP</a> spent on its own defence.</p>
<p>Putin has, of course, issued warnings to Finland (and Sweden) about joining the alliance. In 2016, Putin <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/finnish-president-sauli-niinistoe-on-putin-and-the-ukraine-conflict-a-bb9281d3-2cc6-49a1-87eb-199569991c79">stated that</a> “When we look across the border now, we see a Finn on the other side. If Finland joins Nato, we will see an enemy.” </p>
<p>Although there have been mixed signals with regard to Russia’s views on the sovereign right of Finland to join a collective defence organisation if it so chooses (although Russia does not extend this position to Ukraine itelf), it is gravely concerned that Nato will position military capabilities in Finland, on its border – and close to Russia’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nato-finland-ukraine-b056e7e0f12520e85ea2d81cd30eabc9">own strategically important bases</a> and geography.</p>
<p>Although Russia is very much focused on correcting its strategic blunders in Ukraine, it will at some stage begin to recover and, therefore, reconstitute its armed forces and military posture. Of particular concern could be Russia’s increased dependency on its tactical nuclear posture to offset its (temporarily) decreased capacity with regard to conventional capabilities. </p>
<p>Although we do not know what the future holds, given both the duration and eventual outcome of the war, Russia will continue to have security concerns. And now it has a border with Nato that will run from the High North down to the Black Sea and beyond. This is guaranteed to lock in continued tensions between the alliance and Russia for years to come.</p>
<p>Nato fundamentally thinks of itself as a collective defence organisation, with (nuclear) deterrence as its core strength. Russia will continue to see the alliance as a key stalwart undermining its threat perceptions and ability to affect its own near abroad. So as the Finnish flag is raised at Nato HQ in Brussels, It would be <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2023/03/russia-wont-sit-idly-by-after-finland-and-sweden-join-nato/">naive to think that Russia will not respond</a> – even if its power to do so is currently somewhat diminished.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon J Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Finland has gone from neutral to Nato member in 30 years and Sweden could be set to follow.
Simon J Smith, Associate Professor of Security and International Relations, Staffordshire University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201718
2023-03-16T12:07:15Z
2023-03-16T12:07:15Z
Scottish bottle deposit scheme to be blocked – but evidence from Europe suggests it’s the way forward
<p>Unrecycled drink containers are a huge problem in the UK. A survey by Planet Patrol, a non-profit organisation, found that the drinks industry was responsible for more than a third of the litter found in the UK in 2020 and 2021. The items included plastic and glass bottles, metal drinks cans, single-use cups and lids.</p>
<p>This is a concern. Litter takes years to degrade, causing harm to wildlife and habitats, and cleaning it up is expensive. Street cleaning costs UK taxpayers an <a href="https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/faqs/advice/litter-and-law">estimated £1 billion</a> each year. </p>
<p>The Scottish government has proposed a <a href="https://depositreturnscheme.zerowastescotland.org.uk/">deposit return scheme</a>. People will pay a 20p deposit when they buy a drink in a single-use container, which they get back when the empty bottle or can is returned. Scottish drinks containers would also need to be specially labelled and tracked. </p>
<p>But the scheme is under threat. The UK government is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/13/uk-government-poised-to-block-scottish-bottle-recycling-scheme">unlikely to agree</a> to the trade exemption needed to enable trade rules in Scotland to differ from the rest of the UK. And <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64563015">critics</a> argue that a deposit return scheme will be difficult for smaller retailers in an already competitive sector due to the costs of handling returns and registering with the scheme. </p>
<p>However, similar schemes in other European countries have prevented huge volumes of litter from entering the environment. These deposit return schemes offer insight into how effective a measure they can be and provide a possible route for implementation in the UK.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pile of plastic bottles next to a lake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515470/original/file-20230315-24-x6d56e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C0%2C4110%2C2725&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515470/original/file-20230315-24-x6d56e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515470/original/file-20230315-24-x6d56e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515470/original/file-20230315-24-x6d56e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515470/original/file-20230315-24-x6d56e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515470/original/file-20230315-24-x6d56e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515470/original/file-20230315-24-x6d56e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plastic litter is an environmental concern and a drain on public finances.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pile-garbage-plastic-bottles-on-lake-150820259">Vladimir Gjorgiev/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Evidence from Europe</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://finland.fi/life-society/circular-economy-success-finlands-recycling-programme-keeps-bottles-and-cans-off-the-streets/">Finland</a>, a deposit return system for glass bottles was introduced in the 1950s and continues today, having included plastic drinks containers for the past 20 years. The scheme is operated entirely by the private sector, with 5,000 plastic container-return machines located across the country in shops, hotels, restaurants, offices and schools. </p>
<p>Each time a person buys a drink in a bottle or a can, they pay a 15 to 40 cent deposit, depending on the material the container is made out of. The containers are then recycled or the materials are reused on their return.</p>
<p>Almost every bottle and can in Finland is recycled as a result of the scheme. In 2020, Finnish residents recycled 94% of aluminium cans (out of 1.4 billion sold) and 92% of plastic bottles (out of 530 million). By contrast, just <a href="https://alupro.org.uk/sustainability/fact-sheets/recycling-process-rate/">82%</a> and <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/339/33905.htm">57%</a> were recycled in the UK respectively.</p>
<p>Norway has achieved an even more impressive recycling rate of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/12/can-norway-help-us-solve-the-plastic-crisis-one-bottle-at-a-time">97%</a>. Norway’s deposit return approach is instead supplemented with an <a href="https://www.skatteetaten.no/en/rates/beverage-packaging-tax/">environmental tax</a> imposed on bottle producers. The tax is NOK 6.46 (£0.50) per unit of metal and glass and NOK 3.91 (£0.30) for plastic items. To avoid the tax, producers must recycle more than 95% of the containers they produce. </p>
<p>Plastic bottles usually end up being “downcycled” into other items, like fleece materials. But the tax has encouraged producers of plastic bottles in Norway to make bottles easier to recycle by using more uniform and less contaminated materials. Efforts have included using approved bottle tops and glue and labels that are easier to remove. The quality of recycled plastic in Norway is now so high that recycled bottles can be made into new bottles. </p>
<p>Plastic recycling schemes in Europe have also delivered social benefits. The Finnish system allows people to choose to collect their deposit or <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/europe/norway/articles/recycling-in-norway-heres-what-you-need-to-know/">donate it</a> to charity. In Berlin, those not inclined to return their bottles to the store can leave them under bins for others to collect and <a href="https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/pfand-bottles#:%7E:text=In%20Germany%2C%20there%20is%20a%20bottle%20return%20system.,big%20part%20of%20sorting%20your%20trash%20in%20Germany.">claim the reward</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wall of tightly packed plastic bottles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515488/original/file-20230315-24-jr2kav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515488/original/file-20230315-24-jr2kav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515488/original/file-20230315-24-jr2kav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515488/original/file-20230315-24-jr2kav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515488/original/file-20230315-24-jr2kav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515488/original/file-20230315-24-jr2kav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515488/original/file-20230315-24-jr2kav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plastic bottles at a recycling plant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/plastic-ready-be-recycled-yard-company-101127223">Moreno Soppelsa/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Public acceptance</h2>
<p>The success of a deposit return scheme largely depends on what happens to the item once it is returned. Success is not based on economic viability alone. Any deposit return scheme needs to be acceptable to the people who run and use it. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clwas.2022.100048">Cost-benefit analysis</a> of two separate deposit return schemes (recycling and reuse) for plastic food trays in Sweden found that the costs are greater than the benefits for recycling, but not for reuse. If you consider the costs involved in packaging, washing and the recycling process, then a return scheme may work best if the item is reused. </p>
<p>In Scotland, concerns about how the scheme will run and its real benefit are chipping away at the confidence of the public and drinks retailers. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X20305183">Research</a> finds that many people in Scotland are unaware of how the deposit return scheme would operate and why it is necessary. Some of the study’s participants even perceived the refund charge as another form of taxation imposed by the Scottish government. </p>
<p>Communication plays a critical role. A different <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150640">study</a>, which explored the public acceptance of a deposit return scheme in Catalonia, Spain, revealed that the way a scheme is presented to users and how much information is given influences how it is perceived. More information (given over the phone) tended to yield a more positive viewpoint. </p>
<p>Clearly, more information is required for Scotland’s recycling scheme to be accepted more widely. </p>
<p>If designed correctly, deposit return schemes can encourage recycling by raising the value of plastic waste. Recycling and reuse schemes are also made more technically and economically viable if backed up with tax incentives. </p>
<p>But the barrier facing the adoption of a deposit return scheme in the UK is a lack of uniformity. We should not be asking if Scotland should adopt a scheme or not. Instead, plans for the rest of the UK to adopt this approach should be accelerated to get the whole of the UK on the same page.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201718/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon George receives funding from Research England. </span></em></p>
Evidence suggests that Scotland’s bottle deposit scheme would prevent huge amounts of litter from entering the environment.
Sharon George, Research Chair, Indigenous Approaches to Environmental Management, Keele University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/193370
2023-02-17T06:05:56Z
2023-02-17T06:05:56Z
I bonded with COVID vaccine sceptics over saunas and Mother Earth rituals – this is what they taught me
<p>I was standing in a forest at night, by a dark lake taking part in a Mother Earth ritual. Shaman drums echoed between the cliffs. The witch leading the ritual suddenly encouraged us to sound like wild animals. The other women seemed to greet this as something predictable and expected. “Stand up, let your inner spirit out, the wild animal within you!” the witch called out. And then she laughed out loud into the darkness – and just howled.</p>
<p>A woman in her 60s, with long blonde tangled hair, looking tough and slender-limbed at the same time, rose to her feet, and with something wild glittering in her eyes, she followed the witch into this transcendental phase of the ritual, and started to howl too.</p>
<p>I was in Hälsingland, a region in southern Sweden’s Norrland (Northland). I travelled there in September 2021, to find out more about a group of people who were staunchly against COVID-19 vaccinations, as part of a four-year <a href="https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/portalfiles/portal/131561070/ES_52_2022_Hammarlin_PUBLISHED_VERSION.pdf">research project</a>. A well-known pundit working at a national newspaper had called vaccine sceptics, like the ones I was to meet, “egoistic, ill-bred tearaway teenagers” in a <a href="https://www.dn.se/ledare/hanne-kjoller-vaccinvagrarna-visar-att-det-ar-jaget-inte-laget-som-ar-svenskarnas-ledstjarna/">national newspaper</a>. I knew there would be more to them than that, so I wanted to meet them and try my best to understand them.</p>
<p>Understanding Hälsingland itself is key to that understanding, as the lack of work opportunities and the ongoing migration of people to the big cities are big issues for the local population. The same goes for the high death rates connected to drugs among young adults as well as the high (by national standards) <a href="https://ki.se/en/nasp/suicide-in-the-counties-of-sweden">suicide rates</a> in the Gävleborg county, to which Hälsingland belongs. The people I met were doing their best to adjust to these issues, but it seemed difficult for them to fully accept the changes which had been wrought over their communities in recent years.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>On my first day I met a group of middle-aged women who drove me to a tired old house, painted with “Falu rödfärg”, a traditional red paint used to cover wooden buildings. It was here, ahead of any transcendental ceremonies, where we were going to sauna bathe together.</p>
<p>Darkness was falling over the fields and meadows, sparsely located houses and wide-ranging forests. The September evening light tucked in the landscape like a soft blanket. Nowadays, this part of Sweden is connected to words like “depopulated” rather than “rural”. The unemployment rate is high, government welfare has been greatly reduced and some hospitals have been shut down. Some years ago (in a region further north of Hälsingland) parents were even offered <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/health/article/2017/01/17/swedish-parents-are-being-taught-how-deliver-baby-car">courses</a> on how to deliver babies in their car. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62913356">Swedish election</a> that took place in September 2022 exposed the division between the countryside and the cities. People, mostly men, living in rural areas voted for the populist right-wing party, <em>Sverigedemokraterna</em> (The Swedish Democrats) in <a href="https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/sweden-democrats-grow-in-previous-centre-party-strongholds-in-countryside">higher numbers</a> than those living in the cities. </p>
<p>The Swedish Democrats are now Sweden’s second biggest party. This means that Sweden follows in the footsteps of the political development of other Nordic countries, such as Norway and Denmark, towards a less social-liberal politics and more conservative ideology. Immigration and crime have become the topics that all parties, from left to right, seem to identify as the most important.</p>
<p>Still, Scandinavia’s high willingness to take vaccinations against many infectious diseases bear witness of a well-functioning welfare state model. The documented <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9477.t01-1-00077">high trust</a> in public authorities certainly played a role when people <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-21055-0">chose to take</a> the recommended COVID-19 jabs.</p>
<p>My fieldwork among vaccine critical people in Hälsingland took place over a week in a cultural environment that in one sense was familiar to me. My grandmother and her siblings were born in a small Hälsingland-village. I’m Swedish, so there were no language barriers that the women I was with had to overcome, and we share the same national culture. But within cultures, more cultures unfold kaleidoscopically. So, at the same time it was a place I didn’t belong to.</p>
<p>I was a stranger, an academic from the city. Despite this, I was warmly invited into this community of friends that, among many other things, nurtured a strong reluctance towards vaccines. In one way or another, these women were hesitant or critical towards all kinds of vaccinations.</p>
<h2>Sauna stories</h2>
<p>We started out with some sweating in a hot sauna. The women thought a sauna would be a good start to my trip. They often do this together so it seemed like a natural thing to do. Lit candles decorated the entrance. It felt a bit awkward to undress in front of people I had just met; there is a paradox in being both professional and naked, even for an ethnologist. But the crackling sound of the fire and the overwhelming heat soothed my nerves.</p>
<p>When sitting in this small, hot space together with people I didn’t know and who didn’t know me, I could physically feel how the energy was directed towards me, the stranger coming from the university in the south. Later during the week they gave me the nickname “Lund University”. I spoke to them about my own attitude towards vaccinations: that I take them all without reflecting too much and my children do too. I explained that I was genuinely interested in why they had refrained from vaccines that are voluntary and free of charge in Sweden. I had no mission whatsoever in trying to influence their choice. </p>
<p>I didn’t know the cultural codes in this particular sauna, but sauna bathing is a <a href="https://www.routesnorth.com/sweden/planning-your-trip/sauna-etiquette-in-sweden/">well-established ritual</a> in Scandinavia that I’ve taken part in enough times to know the procedure. When minutes turned into quarter of an hour, the sweat was forming a small pool on my stomach, and then the natural flow in and out of the sauna began. Litres of water were consumed in greedy gulps. We took outdoor showers, stark naked in the increasing darkness of the garden. The ice-cold water evoked sounds of joy, high-pitched screams and laughter embedded in the surrounding nature.</p>
<p>Half-consciously, I studied their behaviour so that I would blend in as much as possible. Slowly but steadily, I felt more and more included. I could relax, let my guard down. </p>
<p>Suddenly the light chit-chat turned into stories of pain, loss and sorrow. Little by little, this led us into questions of health and vaccines. </p>
<h2>Natural and unnatural</h2>
<p>Anna* explained that she relied upon the presumption that a natural way of living will protect her and her children from harm. Fresh air, long walks in nature, food that comes directly from the surrounding forest, yoga and meditation, and spending lots of time with your loved ones – all these offer a much better health protection than vaccinations, she claimed. She felt that, in comparison, vaccines were something unnatural. </p>
<p>She explained that living close to nature made her and her friends “better suited” for a stable contact with their inner selves and that, in turn, reflected their contact with nature and their belief in the immune system as “naturally powerful” – as long as you don’t interfere with it. This gave the immune system more of a spiritual meaning.</p>
<p>A low humming sound came from her friends in agreement. The immune system becomes naturally strong here, they all agreed, not due to the national vaccination programmes but because of the closeness to nature in everyday life. Nature was repeatedly referred to as something inherently benign, a Nordic idea that <a href="https://books.google.se/books?id=6_H-dsz1locC&lpg=PP1&dq=culture%20builders&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=culture%20builders&f=false">researchers</a> like Jonas Frykman and Orvar Löfgren have investigated as a romantic response to urbanisation.</p>
<p>It also became clear that some of the women had taken the decision to refrain from vaccinations decades ago when their children were small. That was when – as in many other parts of the world – there was a worry that the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17168157/">measles vaccine</a> could cause neurological diseases, like autism. That charge has since been debunked, but its effects appear to have been long-lasting. And now, the unvaccinated sons and daughters of the women I interviewed had left this sparsely populated area to live in bigger cities.</p>
<p>Even though spiritually oriented, these women did not belong to any religious community and were not involved in organised political activities. They were just friends, that, for similar reasons were convinced that vaccinations may be harmful to their health.</p>
<p>When I asked them to describe this conviction in more detail, I was told stories about how nobody knows for sure what vaccines do to the immune system in the long run. Vaccines might even destroy the immune system, depriving it of its natural force to combat diseases, leaving the body unprotected and vulnerable. According to them, vaccines have only one winner – the pharmaceutical industry.</p>
<p>I recognised some of these stories from the internet and from literature I’d read. The fear of vaccinations seems to be formed by and in between information from the public authorities, pro and anti-vaccination campaigns, traditional media, digital forums, discussions at kitchen tables, conspiracies, rumours and contemporary legends. All these blend the rational and emotional reasoning into a personal mixture.</p>
<h2>Mother Earth</h2>
<p>One windy night at a steep cliff in the forest, where the lake surrounded us in three directions, we gathered to celebrate “Mother Earth”. A middle-aged woman with a warm smile came up to me. She wore a long poncho and bird feathers in her black dyed hair. In her right hand, she held a long feather that she stroked over my coat, from head to toe. Anna, who was accompanying me, told me that this ritual leader was a witch and that the feather stroking is a way of releasing unwelcome spirits. The witch did this to everyone that wanted to join the ritual. A dozen people, mostly women, had parked their cars some 100 metres away and were now gathered among the trees.</p>
<p>We sat in a circle around an unlit bonfire. Being as flexible as a refrigerator, I had severe problems sitting in the lotus position, which most of the other participants managed with ease. When unfolding my aching legs so that they were stretched into the circle, I felt clumsy and undignified. Anna, a yoga instructor, sat beside me with her legs in a neat knot and her fine-limbed spine straight as a tree stem. Her curly, unruly hair was like a halo around her head. I was glad to be there with her. She knew what was about to happen, and I trusted in her to lead me through the experience with kindness.</p>
<p>Then came time to light the bonfire and the torches. The witch rose, seemingly surrounded by flames. Standing for a while in all four points of the compass, she honoured Mother Earth by thanking her for her richness and patience, talking to her rhythmically in a strong and clear voice. Mother Earth was addressed as a subject: not only was she invited to the ritual but she formed the very ground on which it was built. The witch sometimes glanced at her mobile phone to remember the words correctly. I could feel the increasing chilly wind in my hair and small raindrops landed on the backs of my hands. Then the singing in minor began.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A river runs slowly, slowly as a human, a river runs slowly, home to its ocean, give me strength, give me courage to live on this earth, give me strength, give me power, as a river.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A while later we sang a well-known Nordic folksong about a young girl who is herding sheep, one of many similar songs in the Scandinavian folklore treasure chest. The girl in the song walks and walks together with the herd over heaths and mountains. Her stomach is empty but she keeps her spirit up by singing. </p>
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<p>Wild animals follow her at a distance, offering protection and evoking fear. In solitude for days, the girl moves slowly between birches, aspen and linden trees, over crystal clear and cold streams, among lynx and eagles. These songs remind us of our peasant cultural heritage. Sweden in the 1850s was entirely dominated by the <a href="https://www.informationsverige.se/en/om-sverige/att-komma-till-sverige/sveriges-historia.html">agrarian sector</a>.</p>
<h2>Nostalgia</h2>
<p>In the Nordic countries the industrial revolution happened later than elsewhere in Europe and even though people were crouching under heavy problems (poverty, starvation, and <a href="https://www.swensoncenter.org/swedishimmigrationhistory">violent strikes</a>), the industrial transformation of this part of Sweden has slowly turned into nostalgic stories about a time when the countryside was thriving. For elderly and middle-aged people who grew up in Hälsingland, or other parts of rural Norrland in northern Sweden for that matter, a common cultural reference point is a sort of golden era – at least it’s perceived as such when looking in the rear-view mirror. Times when the fertile soil and the vibrant sawmill industry nurtured flourishing villages and cities, forming nostalgic stories passed on to children and grandchildren. </p>
<p>It’s said that sawmills fought against each other to find enough workers. People moved to Norrland from the big cities in the south, even from the capital, to settle down and build houses and families. The schools were full of pupils, the story goes. Thriving bakeries and butchers were meeting places where people shared everyday gossip. </p>
<p>Around here, the Swedish word storbonde, which is translated to “big farmer” in different language apps, encompasses the large-scale, prosperous farms that can still be recognised in the landscape. In the 21st century however, many of the impressive wooden two-storey houses and barns have been left to crumble. Many were painted in that traditional red paint which distinguishes Swedish peasant cultural history more than any other aesthetic expression (these red buildings were depicted abundantly in Astrid Lindgren’s books about <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25980302-that-boy-emil">That Boy Emil</a>).</p>
<p>From a distance they appear intact but when you get closer the lack of care strikes you: worn windows, flaked paint, overgrown gardens. Nowadays, the activities in the barns have been replaced by well-meaning governmental actions to resurrect “<a href="http://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1048922/FULLTEXT01.pdf">a living countryside</a>”.</p>
<p>My grandmother and her siblings belonged to the adventurous pioneers who left their shoemaker heritage at a young age in the 1920s to move to Stockholm and make a living as housemaids and factory workers. None of them returned to Norrland other than to visit. One could say that they embodied the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Rural-Development/Pain-Hansen/p/book/9781138775664#">flight from the countryside</a>, which through the years led to sparsely populated villages.</p>
<p>This change from “rural” to “depopulation” has turned into a discourse in Swedish culture: a development that is taken for granted and rarely questioned, and that we share with many other countries. The philosopher Simone Weil <a href="https://books.google.se/books?id=zacmeILjLvIC&lpg=PP1&dq=simone%20weil&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=simone%20weil&f=false">wrote</a> about this in the 1940s. She means that the depopulation of the countryside leads to the death of society as a whole, and nothing seems to slow it down.</p>
<p>Against this background, it’s fair to say that Hälsingland today “finds itself caught in a present that began some time ago”, to <a href="https://books.google.se/books?id=ZXQMrC-U9pEC&lpg=PP1&dq=ordinary%20affects&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=ordinary%20affects&f=false">borrow a phrase</a> from the American anthropologist Kathleen Stewart. </p>
<p>The consequences of a century characterised by urbanisation and globalisation are ubiquitous and easily spotted in the landscape through the contours of disused factories, empty industrial buildings and closed shops. Abandoned houses line the roads. I find them hard to describe without flirting with the desolation and melancholy both captured and constructed by a special <a href="https://www.svd.se/a/4obKmV/stilig-dansk-modernism-med-kraftfullt-grafiskt-bildsprak">Nordic art genre</a> – as the Finnish photographer <a href="https://www.svd.se/a/z9z4O/bilder-fran-landet-dar-stjarnorna-ar-narmare-an-grannen">Esko Männikkö’s</a> compassionate photography of men living by themselves in depopulated villages, far away from the big industries and technological achievements – that many associate Sweden with.</p>
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<h2>Wolf howls</h2>
<p>The Mother Earth ritual went into a new phase when shaman drums made our hearts beat faster, and then the howling began. The trees and the flames from the fire surrounded the witch. She moved her body to the sound of the drums. Other women joined, they let their heads drop backwards, and just howled towards the night sky.</p>
<p>I couldn’t help myself from smiling at “them”. I immediately hated myself a little bit for that smile: the constant need to be on top of things, controlling things, planning every inch of my existence, not being able to relax and go with the flow. The inability to be absorbed by special moments, like this one, is a disadvantage when doing ethnography. As an ethnologist you strive to “be there” – open, attentive, curious and never, ever condescending. </p>
<p>The last time I experimented with spiritual rituals was at the age of 11 together with my classmates. We were three girls who hid in the woods near school, performing black magic – very innocent black magic I should add, we didn’t get much further than genie in the bottle and attempted hypnosis. But we were so obsessed by our frightening and captivating games, where we explored our spiritual strength, or so we believed, that we forgot to return to the classroom when the school bell called. The teachers and the principal acted in the way you could expect them to act in Sweden in the early 1980s: they informed our parents about the inappropriate play and told us to immediately stop with this stupidness.</p>
<p>Nothing was offered to us in return that could still our spiritual longing, except one yearly visit to church before summer holidays. It seems like the Swedish people’s spiritual needs have been starved for quite some time now. The renowned Swedish author <a href="https://www.norstedts.se/116763-agneta-pleijel">Agneta Pleijel</a>, born in 1940, has written beautifully about her religiously anaemic childhood. Fostered by a father who was a professor in mathematics, she was taught that the world consisted of things that you could see, hear and feel and – above all – count and measure. </p>
<p>Scientific discoveries could cause a sense of wonder, yes, but Pleijel’s yearning for something bigger – destiny, fate, God or at least a feeling of meaning with it all – was met with snorts from her parents. It didn’t fit into the technocratic paradigm of our modern times which still reflects Sweden’s self-view to a higher degree than in many other more <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/07/20/the-global-god-divide/">religiously oriented</a> countries in Europe. </p>
<h2>A female network-culture</h2>
<p>During my stay in Hälsingland, I was literally swimming in overwhelming spiritual experiences. We meditated together in medieval churches, we practised yoga, we took long walks in the forest together with horses that the owner (a trained natural horsemanship practitioner) released among the trees. The horses ran off by themselves and returned to the herd when called for. The intelligent, attentive, and stunningly beautiful half-tonne animals moved with surprising softness and suppleness over the moss. “We do this regularly as you rarely meet any people in the forest”, I was told. So, this is what it might look like when the ordinary meets the extraordinary.</p>
<p>Over and above, intimate places emerged during the fieldwork, namely the female network-culture taking place through outdoor activities and long dinners in each other’s houses. This was a micro culture, that in subtle ways was interrelated with a local economy consisting of plenty of spare time, long car drives, low housing costs, handpicked mushrooms and moose meat served at the table and stored in the freezer. The women gathered food in the forest and took care of the meat that men brought to the household. They took active part of this modern hunting culture. And they had a tendency to answer my questions about vaccine reluctance in similar wording, told in determined yet soft voices. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nobody will tell me what to do, because it’s <em>my</em> body. The same goes for our children – we know best what they need.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In my view, this underscores that people will act in accordance with recognised solidarity. In other words, what they believe that the majority of people in <em>their</em> community would do in a similar situation. The spirit fostered in these tight-knit communities became the trusted source of news and attitudes. This community of women trusted each other’s opinions more than anonymous national governing bodies. A strong local sense of belonging, as to a village or a landscape, and the loyalty with an intimate group of friends, in this particular case triumphed over the solidarity with a more anonymous, imagined community of the nation. And these bonds became even stronger because of the pandemic.</p>
<p>Some people said the main reason they got the vaccine was to express <a href="https://regionvasterbotten.se/en-handling-av-solidaritet">“solidarity”</a> with the rest of their country. That may be a genuine reason for some. But I think it would be wrong to assume that all vaccine reluctant people lack feelings of solidarity.</p>
<p>However provocative it might come across, they might be loyal to other, more regional, local and intimate fellowships, as well as to like-minded people across the globe, and there are complex cultural and political reasons for this.</p>
<p>Or as Bernice Hausman, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501735622/antivax/#bookTabs=1">puts it</a> from an American vantage point: “How, as a society, we deal with these circumstances of fundamental disagreement reflects how well our social contract is working.”</p>
<p>All things considered, <a href="https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/portalfiles/portal/131561070/ES_52_2022_Hammarlin_PUBLISHED_VERSION.pdf">my investigation</a> underscores the importance of studying vaccine reluctance as something that is culturally specific. To make any sense it needs to be investigated less as de-contextualised opinions and arguments, and more as a socially and culturally embedded phenomenon. </p>
<p>Democracies are not one singular coherent public sphere, but many differing and conflicting public spheres. </p>
<p>The people I met were not “egoistic, ill-bred tearaway teenagers”, they were generous and considerate people. That I do not share their views about vaccinations does not mean that I cannot see myself reflected in them. They are my fellow human beings after all.</p>
<p><em>Names changed to protect the anonymity of those involved.</em></p>
<hr>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mia-Marie Hammarlin receives funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, an independent foundation with the goal of promoting and supporting research in the Humanities and Social Sciences.</span></em></p>
I was in a region in southern Sweden’s Northland in September 2021 to find out more about a group of people who were staunchly against COVID-19 vaccinations.
Mia-Marie Hammarlin, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies, Associate Professor of Ethnology and fellow at The Birgit Rausing Centre for Medical Humanities, Lund University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/197221
2023-01-05T20:33:11Z
2023-01-05T20:33:11Z
DNA reveals large migration into Scandinavia during the Viking age
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503216/original/file-20230105-20-c8gnzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More people moved into Scandinavia in Viking times than at any other time period analysed in the study.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-wooden-viking-snekkja-longship-type-2044280747">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We often think of the Vikings as ultimate explorers, taking their culture with them to far-off lands. But we may not typically think of Viking age Scandinavia as a hub for migration from all over Europe.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01468-4">In a study published in Cell</a>, we show this is exactly what happened. The Viking period (late 8th century to mid 11th century) was the catalyst for an exceptional inflow of people into Scandinavia. These movements were greater than for any other period we analysed.</p>
<p>What’s also striking is that later Scandinavians don’t show the same high levels of non-local ancestry present in their Viking-era counterparts. We don’t completely understand why the migrants’ genetic impact was reduced in later Scandinavians, but there are some possibilities.</p>
<p>We analysed genomes (the full complement of DNA contained in human cells) from around 17,000 Scandinavian individuals, including nearly 300 from ancient burials. We combined <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982218308443">existing datasets</a> with new samples. These were analysed together in a dataset spanning 2,000 years.</p>
<p>We used these genomes to explore when people arrived in the region from outside and where they came from. New DNA samples were collected from several iconic Swedish archaeological sites. </p>
<p>These included Sandby borg, which is a “ring fortress” <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/moment-frozen-in-time-evidence-of-a-late-fifthcentury-massacre-at-sandby-borg/5C803B7E77A41439BC3B50D4BF96560E">where a massacre occurred just before 500 AD</a>, and the Vendel cemetery, which features several burials contained in large boats and dating to between the 6th and 8th centuries AD. We also used samples from Viking chamber burials and remains from Kronan, a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1990.tb00276.x">warship that capsized with more than 800 men</a> in 1676.</p>
<p>Two previous studies <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982218308443">noted extensive migration</a> into Scandinavia <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2688-8">during the Viking age</a>. But in our latest study, we have clarified some of the details about this flow of genes into the region.</p>
<p>We found that movements of people from western Europe impacted all of Scandinavia, while migration from the east was more localised, with peaks in the Lake Mälaren Valley and Gotland. Finally, gene flow from southern Europe largely affected the south of Scandinavia. </p>
<p>Since the study was based on a 2,000-year chronology, it was not only possible to see there was an increase in migration during the Viking era, but also that it starts to fall with the onset of the medieval period.</p>
<p>The non-local ancestry that arrives in the region at this time falls away in later periods. Much of the genetic influence from eastern Europe disappears and the western and southern influence becomes significantly diluted. The best way to explain this is that people who arrived in Scandinavia during Viking times did not have as many children as the people who were already living there.</p>
<p>There are different possible reasons for this. The migrants could have belonged to groups that did not intend to settle down in Scandinavia, instead aiming to return to where they came from. Tradespeople and diplomats are examples in this category. Additionally, the migrants could also have belonged to groups that were not allowed to have families or children, such as slaves and priests.</p>
<p>We also looked at influences that began at earlier periods in time. For example, the DNA of modern Scandinavians <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41431-021-00899-6">changes gradually as you travel from north to south</a>. This genetic “cline”, or gradient, is due to migrations into the region of people carrying shared genetic similarities known as the Uralic component.</p>
<p>Modern examples of where the Uralic genetic component can be found are among Sami people, people in modern Finland, some Native Americans and some central Asian groups. </p>
<p>In our dataset, we found occasional instances of people with Uralic ancestry – mainly in northern Scandinavia – during the Viking period and medieval times. But the Uralic influence seems to increase after this time, since individuals from our 17th century sample have similar levels of this ancestry to people living today.</p>
<p>There were many other fascinating stories from our study. For example, at the Viking age burial site of Sala, by the river Sagån, we find a woman that seems to be fully British or Irish in her genomic composition. This woman was buried in a prestigious Viking period boat burial. We don’t know exactly what position she held in society, but she would not have been a slave or a priest. </p>
<p>Among the individuals found on the wreck of the Kronan, there were two people who came from what is now Finland and another who has a genetic affinity with people from the Baltic states, such as Lithuania and Latvia (though this identification is not conclusive). At the time of the Kronan incident in 1676, these areas were part of the Swedish Empire, though they are independent today.</p>
<p>The work sheds more light on the historical events that shaped the populations of Scandinavia over time. The Viking age was marked by Scandinavians’ curiosity of the world outside their home region. But, from our results, it also appears that the world outside this region was curious enough about the Vikings to travel to Scandinavia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anders Götherström receives funding from VR, KVA, and EU. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ricardo Rodriguez Varela does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
DNA analysis reveals a large migration of people into Scandinavia during Viking times.
Anders Götherström, Professor in Molecular Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University
Ricardo Rodriguez Varela, Research in Molecular Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194004
2023-01-04T06:09:57Z
2023-01-04T06:09:57Z
Many Turkish people who migrated to European countries are worse off than those who stayed at home
<p>Many people migrate to another country to earn <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/top-statistics-global-migration-migrants">a decent income</a> and to attain a better standard of living. But <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/poverty-and-international-migration">my recent research</a> shows that across all destinations and generations studied, many migrants from Turkey to European countries are financially worse off than those who stayed at home.</p>
<p>Even if there are some non-monetary benefits of staying in the destination country, such as living in a more orderly environment, this raises fundamental questions. Primarily, why are 79% of the first-generation men who contributed to the growth of Europe by taking on some of the dirtiest, riskiest manual jobs – like working in asbestos processing and sewage canals – still living in income poverty? There is a strong indication that the European labour markets and welfare states are failing migrants and their descendants. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/poverty-and-international-migration">my recent book</a>, Poverty and International Migration, I examined the poverty status of three generations of migrants from Turkey to multiple European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. I compared them with the “returnees” who moved back to Turkey and the “stayers” who have never left the country.</p>
<p>The study covers the period from early 1960s to the time of their interview (2010-2012), and draws on a sample of 5,980 adults within 1,992 families. The sample was composed of living male ancestors (those who went first were typically men), their children and grandchildren.</p>
<p>For my research, the poverty line was set at 60% of the median disposable household income (adjusted for household size) for every country studied. Those who fall below the country threshold are defined as the income poor.</p>
<p>Data for this research is drawn from the <a href="https://2000families.org/">2000 Families Survey</a> which I conducted with academics based in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. The survey generated what is believed to be the world’s largest database on <a href="https://search.gesis.org/research_data/ZA5957">labour migration to Europe</a> through locating the male ancestors who moved to Europe from five high migration regions in Turkey during the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Labour-Migration-from-Turkey-to-Western-Europe-1960-1974-A-Multidisciplinary/Akgunduz/p/book/9781138543362">guest-worker years of 1960-1974</a> and their counterparts who did not migrate at the time. </p>
<p>It charts the family members who were living in various European countries up to the fourth generation, and those that stayed behind in Turkey. The period corresponds to a time when labourers from Turkey were invited through bi-lateral agreements between states to contribute to the building of western and northern Europe.</p>
<p>The results presented in my book show that four-fifths (79%) of the first-generation men who came to Europe as guest-workers and ended up settling there lived below an income poverty line, compared with a third (33%) of those that had stayed in the home country. By the third generation, around half (49%) of those living in Europe were still poor, compared with just over a quarter (27%) of those who remained behind.</p>
<p>Migrants from three family generations residing in countries renowned for the generosity of their welfare states were among the most impoverished. Some of the highest poverty rates were observed in Belgium, Sweden and Denmark. </p>
<p>For example, across all three generations of migrants settled in Sweden, 60% were in income poverty despite an employment rate of 61%. This was the highest level of employment observed for migrants in all the countries studied. Migrants in Sweden were also, on average, more educated than those living in other European destinations.</p>
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<p>My findings also reveal that while more than a third (37%) of “stayers” from the third generation went on to complete higher education. This applied to less than a quarter (23%) of the third generation migrants spread across European countries.</p>
<h2>Returnees did well</h2>
<p>Having a university education turned out not to improve the latter’s chances of escaping poverty as much as it did for the family members who had not left home. The “returnees” to Turkey were, on the other hand, found to fare much better than those living in Europe and on a par with, if not better than, the “stayers”. </p>
<p>Less than a quarter of first- and third-generation returnees (23% and 24% respectively) experienced income poverty and 43% from the third generation attained a higher education qualification. The money they earned abroad along with their educational qualifications seemed to buy them more economic advantage in Turkey than in the destination country. </p>
<p>The results of the research should not be taken to mean that international migration is economically a bad decision as we still do not know how impoverished these people were prior to migration. First-generation migrants are anecdotally known to be poorer at the time of migration than those who decided not to migrate during guest-worker years, and are likely to have made some economic gains from their move. The returnees’ improved situation does lend support to this. </p>
<p>Nor should the findings lead to the suggestion that if migrants do not earn enough in their new home country, they should go back. Early findings from another piece of research I am currently undertaking suggests that while income poverty considerably reduces migrants’ life satisfaction, there are added non-monetary benefits of migration to a new destination. The exact nature of these benefits remains unknown but it is likely to do, for example, with living in a better organised environment that makes everyday life easier. </p>
<p>However, we still left with the question of why migrants are being left in such poverty. Coupled with the findings from another <a href="https://www.reminder-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/D10.1-Final_July-2018_with-cover.pdf">recent study</a> demonstrating that more than half of Europeans do not welcome non-EU migrants from economically poorer countries, evidence starts to suggest an undercurrent of systemic racism may be acting as a cause.</p>
<p>If migrants were welcome, one would expect destination countries with far more developed welfare states than Turkey to put in place measures to protect guest workers against the risk of poverty in old age, or prevent their children and grandchildren from falling so far behind their counterparts in Turkey in accessing higher education. </p>
<p>They would not let them settle for lower returns on their educational qualifications in more regulated labour markets. It’s also unlikely we would have observed some of the highest poverty rates in countries with generous welfare states such as Sweden – <a href="https://www.mipex.eu/sites/default/files/downloads/migrant_integration_policy_index_mipexiii_2011.pdf">top ranked</a> for its anti-discrimination legislation, based on equality of opportunity. </p>
<p>Overall, the picture for “unwanted” migrants appears to be rather bleak. Unless major systemic changes are made, substantial improvement to their prospects are unlikely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sebnem Eroglu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Four-fifths of the first-generation Turkish men who came to Europe as guest-workers and ended up settling there lived below an income poverty line.
Sebnem Eroglu, Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, University of Bristol
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.