scholarly journals 14 empty airframes: public–private relations in the Swedish arms industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Åkerström

In February 2013, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration ordered 14 empty airframes in an effort to keep production lines open at the national arms producer Saab. This unusual example of state support is a reflection of the tight-knit relationship between state actors and the arms industry in Sweden. This article provides a case study of the political and economic factors that contributed to the order. It analyses the Swedish history of armed neutrality and military non-alignment as a driver of contemporary procurement and arms trade policies, and the formation of a “partially captive” Swedish arms market—where orders to Saab made up 60 percent of the Swedish arms procurement budget in 2018.

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-93
Author(s):  
Jessica Moberg

Immediately after the Second World War Sweden was struck by a wave of sightings of strange flying objects. In some cases these mass sightings resulted in panic, particularly after authorities failed to identify them. Decades later, these phenomena were interpreted by two members of the Swedish UFO movement, Erland Sandqvist and Gösta Rehn, as alien spaceships, or UFOs. Rehn argued that ‘[t]here is nothing so dramatic in the Swedish history of UFOs as this invasion of alien fly-things’ (Rehn 1969: 50). In this article the interpretation of such sightings proposed by these authors, namely that we are visited by extraterrestrials from outer space, is approached from the perspective of myth theory. According to this mythical theme, not only are we are not alone in the universe, but also the history of humankind has been shaped by encounters with more highly-evolved alien beings. In their modern day form, these kinds of ideas about aliens and UFOs originated in the United States. The reasoning of Sandqvist and Rehn exemplifies the localization process that took place as members of the Swedish UFO movement began to produce their own narratives about aliens and UFOs. The question I will address is: in what ways do these stories change in new contexts? Texts produced by the Swedish UFO movement are analyzed as a case study of this process.


1992 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-328
Author(s):  
Ziaul Haque

Modem economic factors and forces are rapidly transforming the world into a single society and economy in which the migration of people at the national and international levels plays an important role. Pakistan, as a modem nation, has characteristically been deeply influenced by such migrations, both national and international. The first great exodus occurred in 1947 when over eight million Indian Muslims migrated from different parts of India to Pakistan. Thus, from the very beginning mass population movements and migrations have been woven into Pakistan's social fabric through its history, culture and religion. These migrations have greatly influenced the form and substance of the national economy, the contours of the political system, patterns of urbanisation and the physiognomy of the overall culture and history of the country. The recent political divide of Sindh on rural/Sindhi, and urban/non-Sindhi, ethnic and linguistic lines is the direct result of these earlier settlements of these migrants in the urban areas of Sindh.


1957 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47
Author(s):  
G. de Bertier de Sauvigny

The political history of France, as usually recorded, appears to be a conflict of parties, ideologies and ideologists: liberals against conservatives, royalists against republicans, and radicals against politicians of moderate tendencies. The Marxian conception of history has fortunately contributed to directing scientific research toward economic factors which might explain the attitude taken by this or that social group in certain circumstances, or might account for the progress of some parties in a specific region. Yet, research in that direction does not appear to have achieved any sensational discovery: to reduce all political history to a struggle between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is oversimplification and does not account for the disconcerting complexity of political strife in nineteenth century France.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-112
Author(s):  
Michał Stachura

[The wavering loyalty of Emperor Justinian’s soldiers. The causes of the military revolts in Africa (536–545 AD)] Shortly after the liquidation of the Vandal rule in northern Africa and the restoration of the Roman administration, the newly established prefecture was shaken up by a series of military mutinies and rebellions. The revolts in the years 536–545 AD are represented in the contemporary witness accounts (esp. historian Procopius of Caesarea, poet Flavius Cresconius Corippus) as a case of a “civil war” among the Romans in the context of the concurrent conflict with the Berber (“Moor”) tribes. The history of the army mutinies has been depicted in accordance with the literary conventions and the propaganda‑oriented assumptions of the authors, with a striking background picture of the Roman army in a state of continual readiness to rise up in revolt against the emperor’s authority, which is something virtually unknown from any other contemporaneous war theatre, in consideration of a comparable scale. In his analysis of the unfolding events, the Author attempts to address not only the questions of the political intentions of the various rebellion leaders, but also (or even in particular) the motivations which would make the soldiers take part in such precarious undertakings. He points to a number of political, religious, and economic factors which caused the northern African army mutinies to escalate so violently, concluding with a paradoxical observation that in the newly established prefecture, the emperor would have counted on the loyalty of the locally recruited soldiers rather than on the elite troops to whose military skills he owed the re‑conquering of Africa.


Author(s):  
Ben Epstein

This chapter uses a case study approach to explore the political choice phase of the political communication cycle (PCC) over time. Focusing on interest groups and detailing the long history of these organizations in America, the chapter primarily examines innovations made by four of the largest interest groups in American history: AARP, the Sierra Club, the National Rifle Association (NRA), and MoveOn.org. These four interest groups have spanned multiple political communication orders (PCOs) and their overall lack of innovativeness until recent years is tied to the distinct nature of their shared political communication goals. These goals are far narrower than campaigns or social movements and therefore are much less likely to motivate innovative efforts. These trends have started to change in the internet-based era as new organizational and communication strategies have opened up interest groups to greater innovation along the lines of MoveOn.org.


1993 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-100
Author(s):  
Jens Hohensee

The events of 1989, the annus mirabilis, have led to a great demand for new research and a re-thinking of the history of Eastern Europe. Those sources which were kept from us for years are now available, at least in part. As part of this process political scientists and historians of Eastern Europe are now concerned to fill in the gaps in our knowledge and provide the answers to urgent questions. A consequence of this situation has been a veritable flood of publications, of which eight have been chosen for review here. With two exceptions these studies have deepened our understanding of the issues involved. There are clear differences between the historians on the one hand and the political scientists on the other in terms of their starting-point and the questions they ask. Whereas the historians deal descriptively with the origins, trends and structures of the last centuries and place the revolutions of 1989/90 in their historical context, the political scientists proceed analytically and place greater emphasis on social, ethnic and economic factors. This dichotomy is demonstrated in the different problematics of the books under review.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (13) ◽  
pp. 1599-1622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Corrigall-Brown ◽  
Mabel Ho

Governments have a long history of funding nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and their programs. While there is much work describing this funding, there has been little research systematically examining how the political and economic context shapes the level and type of funding NGOs receive. This article examines the factors that predict levels of government funding for NGOs over time, focusing on spending for interest groups in three areas, Indigenous, women, and the environment. We use data collected from the Canadian Public Accounts, which lists all grants to groups by the federal government from 1972 until 2014. We use these data to assess how federal funding has changed over this period, how funding across issue areas is related, and the role of political and economic factors in shaping rising and declining funding over time. We find that the factors that predict funding vary across issue areas. Our analysis also shows government’s tendency to sprinkle funding across a larger number of groups or concentrate it in a smaller number of organizations is strongly related to the party in power and the issue area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-25
Author(s):  
Farooq Ahmad Dar ◽  
Muhammad Sajid Khan ◽  
Muhammad Abrar Zahoor

Mass-Mobilization is one of the key ingredients for not only launching a movement but also for spreading any political agenda. The involvement of the masses always plays an important role in a process of bringing change anywhere and at any time. The history of South Asia, however, witnessed that in the struggle against the colonial rulers, to begin with, started by the elite alone. Politics was considered as the domain of a selected few and the common men were considered as ignorant and perhaps irrelevant and thus were kept at a distance. It was only after the beginning of the twentieth century and especially after the entrance of Gandhi on the political screen that the masses gained importance and were directly involved in political affairs. They not only became part of the Non-Cooperation Movement but also played an important role in spreading the movement all across India. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight Gandhi’s efforts to mobilize Indian masses during the Non-Cooperation Movement and its impact on the future politics of the region. The paper also discusses in detail different groups of society that actively participated in the process of mass-mobilization.


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