Home » SWEDISH UNIVERSITIES ENGAGED IN SOUTH ASIA RESEARCH 2015 » Uppsala University, 2015 » Department of Government, Uppsala University, 2015

Department of Government, Uppsala University, 2015

Postal address: Box 514, 751 20 Uppsala
Visiting address: Theatrum Oeconomicum, Gamla Torget 2
Web page: http://www.statsvet.uu.se/?languageId=1

Contact persons:
– Professor in Comparative Politics Sten Widmalm, phone +46-18 – 471 33 36. Personal web page with information on his doctoral thesis, articles, reports and research.
– Associate professor Hans Blomkvist, phone +46-18 – 471 33 32.

The Department of Government studies every aspect of political life – from the ideas of ancient thinkers to the decision-making of today. The problems of democracy are dealt with from the point of view of classical theory and contemporary debate. Comparative studies of foreign countries, systems of government and politics are also done. Moreover, the interplay between states at the global political arena is studied at the department. The Uppsala Chair in Eloquence and Government was established in 1622 by Johan Skytte, the first Chancellor of Uppsala University. It is said to be one of the oldest, still active, professorships in Political Science in the world today.

Ongoing research connected to South Asia:

Hans Blomkvist and Sten Widmalm are among the leading South Asia scholars in Sweden, and has produced lots of research material over the years, which can be studied at their respective personal web pages mentioned above.

Hans Blomkvist (photo to the right) has been engaged in a Sida/SAREC funded research project on Democracy and Social Capital in Segmented Societies, studying differences in the type of civil society (viz. level of social capital) in South Africa and India; and whether these can explain environmental protest and government performance. The project also involved Per Nordlund within the same department and Ashok Swain, Dept. of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, besides a large number of researchers in South Africa and India. More information.
The Indian researchers have been: Aswini Ray, Niraja Gopal Jayal, Bishnu Mohapatra, Sudha Pai, and Dwaipayan Bhattarcharyya, at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Amareswar Mishra, Madhusmita Mishra, Srinabas Pathi, Brahmananda Sathapathy, and Smita Nayak from the Dept of Political Science, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.
The project was born out of a previous research project, The Agora Project: Democracy and Social Capital in Segmented Societies, completed in 2002. More information on this.

Dr. Blomkvist is now working with a research programme on institutions and bioenergy in Europe and India, ”Bioenergy, institutions and interest groups: Explaining energy systems in southern Indian states”. The project is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten), and is carried out in collaboration with Dr. Katrin Uba from the same department (more information about Dr. Uba), and a number of researchers from the fields of science & technology, namely Yvonne Brandt Andersson, Christina Edström, Mats Leijon, and Roland Roberts.
Abstract: Growing concerns about a global energy crisis and climate change are set against the background of an 80 per cent dependence on fossil fuels. A second crucial factor is the rapid economic growth in China and India, having 30 per cent of the world’s population. Energy use in India is estimated to grow by close to 3 per cent annually 2004-2015, almost two and a half times as rapidly as in the OECD. Bioenergy has been projected as one of the important remedies to the twin challenges of energy shortage and climate change. Presently energy from biomass and waste covers more than a third of India’s energy use, but almost all of it represent “traditional” burning of wood fuel, agricultural waste and dung. But the contribution to electricity production in India from biomass and waste is projected to grow by 20 per cent annually 2004-2015.
Energy belongs to the ‘concurrent list’ in India, meaning that the political responsibility is shared between the federal government in New Delhi and 35 states and union territories. This paper will probe into the policies of energy and renewable energy – particularly bioenergy – at the central (federal) and state level in India. Three states will be in focus and compared: Andhra Pradesh,
Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. All three have a relatively standard of living and are governed relatively well, but they differ conspicously in terms of renewable energy used: Tamil Nadu with 22 %, Andhra Pradesh with 5 % and Kerala with only 1 %. What can explain these differences?

Sten Widmalm wrote his doctoral thesis on ”Democracy and violent separatism in India : Kashmir in a comparative perspective” in 1997 (read an abstract of the dissertation). An updated version of the thesis has again been published as a book titled ”Kashmir in Comparative Perspective – Democracy and Violent Separatism in India” by Oxford University Press in March 2006 (with foreword written by Ian Talbot). More information on the new book.

Prof. Widmalm is the Director for Uppsala University’s Master’s programme in Development Studies. The programme is run by the Department of Government, but with the aid of researchers and lecturers at a number of different educational institutions. It gives preparation for a professional career as an investigator and analyst in both the private and the public sector both nationally and internationally. More information about the programme.

Sten Widmalm has also been engaged in a research project on ”Everyday Corruption in India”, carried out in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, and a project on ”Decentralisation and Development: The effects of the devolution of power on health and education in India.” Information on the project.
In January 2008, Dr. Widmalm published the results of his research in a new book titled ”Decentralisation, Corruption and Social Capital. From India to the West” (SAGE Publications).
Abstract: The book provides fresh perspectives and insights on what may be the world’s largest ongoing decentralisation reforms—the Panchayat Raj reforms in India – and presents unique empirical material from Madhya Pradesh and Kerala. Comparative perspectives and references to historical cases from around the world are used to show how decentralisation can be connected to social capital and corruption. In particular, this book shows how certain forms of social capital, previously thought to be a hindrance to development, can work in favour of democracy. Widmalm argues that there exists a strong and direct connection between degrees of corruption in village performance and the level of trust in society, even though only an ambiguous link can be said to exist between decentralisation and corruption. However, the kind of trust most strongly related to performance is not the kind we would expect from a reading of development literature or from the policies of certain aid agencies. This book shows that the relationship between decentralisation, corruption and social capital can be well understood if illuminated through the prism of collective action theory. Further, it dwells upon the consequences of these research results for aid policies. The book would be invaluable to aid agencies and development-oriented organisations, as well as students and researchers working in the areas of development, governance, decentralisation, federalism, social capital and civil society. More information

Besides, Sten Widmalm has been involved in a another India related project, a comparative project focusing on tolerance among citizens in India and Uganda. In 2005 he published an article called ”Trust and Tolerance in India – Findings from Madhya Pradesh and Kerala” in the peer-reviewed magazine India Review (Issue 3-4, 2005). More information.
In February 2006 Prof. Widmalm received a SASNET planning grant for a project called ”Tolerance in Challenging Political Environments in Uganda, Kenya, India and Pakistan”, to be carried out together with the Africa expert Dr. Karolina Hulterström, then also at the Dept. of Government (later working at Sida in Stockholm). The planning grant was used for carrying out a preparatory visit to India and Pakistan (a planning grant for the pilot survey in Uganda and Kenya was given bySida/Sarec). Research partners in South Asia have been Dr. Sarwar Bari Pattan, Islamabad, Pakistan; Dr. Yogesh Kumar, Director for Samarthan, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; and Professor Raman Kutty, Health Action by People, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

In October 2009, Prof. Widmalm was awarded main funding for this project onFreedom of Expression and Tolerance in Challenging Political Environments in Uganda, Kenya, India and Pakistan, when it was awarded SEK 3.9 m as a three-years grant for the period 2010-12 from the Swedish Research Council for research within the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences. More information.
Project abstract: This is a study of political tolerance in India, Pakistan, Kenya, and Uganda. The project will focus on tolerance of the kind we associate with civil liberties and rights – liberties and rights that from a democratic perspective should belong to all citizens irrespective of race or ethnicity, gender, class, or, most important, opinion. We will consider the value which citizens place upon these liberties and what explains the variation in citizens’ levels of political tolerance. By means of surveys and in-depth interviews in all four countries, which vary in type of regime on a scale ranging from “democratic” to ”very weak democratic”, the project will test a set of hypotheses relating mainly to civil society, gender, type of regime, quality of governance, ethnic pluralism, and socioeconomic conditions. In particular, the project aims at investigating the possible influence of institutional factors and cultural values and traditions. The aim is to test the idea that state institutions that provide services (e.g. health services, education, judicial support) according to universalistic principles always contribute to political tolerance (measured as the support for the freedom of expression) no matter how plagued the cultural and political context may be with regard to lack of trust, ethnic divides, and socioeconomic inequalities.
On 5 March 2010, the same project was also awarded SEK 2.1 M as a project grant from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. The grant is given for the period 2010–12. 

In November 2013, the Swedish Research Council decided to give Sten Widmalm SEK 3.305 million as a three-year (2014-16) U-forsk grant for a follow-up project entitled ”Why the Well-informed Remain Intolerant – Investigating “Dangerous Minds” in Low-Income Countries”, to be carried out in collaboration with partners in India, Pakistan and Uganda. More information about the South Asia related U-forsk grants 2013.
Till 2011, the U-forsk (developing country research) grants programme was administered by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, but it has now been taken over by the Swedish Research Council. The aim is to establish and maintain a knowledge base of relevance to aid and development issues, plus capacity for developing country research in Sweden. Individual researchers or groups of researchers working at universities/colleges or other research institutions in Sweden have been able to apply for a grant. Swedish citizens working at the Scandinavian Institute for Asian Studies (Nordiska Asieninstitutet, NIAS) in Copenhagen have also had the opportunity. More information.
Project abstract: Political tolerance – the idea that citizens in a democratic society need to accept that even groups and individuals they dislike or object to have rights – is commonly regarded as an essential citizen virtue for a democratic state to be viable. However, due to the design of the methodologies that are commonly employed in tolerance studies, there is no distinction between those that base their intolerance on poor or false information – here referred to as “uninformed intolerant” – and those who are “informed intolerant” that maintain intolerant views despite having access to information that we normally see as supporting tolerant norms. This research project will focus on the informed intolerant individuals, since their impact on the viability of a relatively new or fragile democracy can be significant, while on the other hand the origin of their beliefs, values, and attitudes has been far too little explored. Hence the research question: how can “informed intolerance” among individuals in low- and middle income countries be understood or explained?  In order to investigate this question it is necessary to combine the genre of political tolerance studies with institutionalism and political psychology, where at least related questions have been explored. The study will employ in-depth interviews and small-scale surveys in India, Pakistan and Uganda to also test explanations that derive from a tolerance matrix which has been constructed for the project. 

Muhammed Farooq Sulehria and Sten Widmalm.

On 14th November 2013, Sten Widmalm was a keynote speaker at a successful SASNET seminar entitled ”Fragile Peace in Kashmir. Is there any way forward?” at Lund University. It was arranged in collaboration with the South Asian Students Association (SASA) at Lund University. PhD Candidate Muhammad Farooq Sulehria from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK, was also invited as a speaker, and the seminar was followed by a creening of a feature film on Kashmir by British-Kashmiri film maker Ali Daalat. See the poster.
Sten Widmalm’s academic presentation was entitled ”How to build peace in the world’s most dangerous place”, and focused on the issue how peace in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to a large extent depends on whether confidence in democracy can be revived on the ground. More information about the seminar.

Associate Professor Suruchi Thapar-Björkert joined the Department of Government in April 2010, as a Senior Lecturer. Her research interests focus on four main areas: 1) gender, nationalism and colonialism; 2) the political economy of gendered violence; 3) qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and 4) ethnicity, social capital and social exclusion. 
She completed a PhD at the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick in 1997. In recent years, Dr. Thapar-Björkert has held a senior lectureship at University of Bristol at the Department of Sociology, but has also had an affiliation to the Division of Gender and Medicine, Linköping University. During the Fall 2004 she was a guest researcher at the Dept. of Ethnic Studies, supported by ACSIS (Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden, also based at Linköping University Campus Norrköping). During her time in Sweden she gave lectures at different universities. On Tuesday 23 November 2004 she also visited Lund University and gave a SASNET lecture on ”Gendered Caste Conflicts in rural North India”. 
She has also been connected to the Centre of Gender Excellence (GEXcel), jointly run by Linköping University and Örebro University. In 2006 she also completed a project with Integrationsverket, Sweden entitled ”State policy, strategies and implementation in combating patriarchal and ‘honour-related’ violence”. 
More information on her personal web page.

Professor Anna Jarstad, also working at the Folke Bernadotte Academy, has been working on a research project entitled ”Opportunities and Obstacles: Local Ownership of Development and Stability in Northern Afghanistan”. This three-year project (2010–12) was led by Dr. Louise Olsson, and identified and analyzed the opportunities and obstacles in creating development and stability through local ownership with international support in Afghanistan. In focus was the international approach to work strategically to strengthen the structure, influence and effectiveness of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the areas where Sweden plays an important role for the development and security, namely the Northern Afghan provinces of Balkh, Samangan, Jowzjan and Sar-e Pol. This project was conducted at Folke Bernadotte Academy. More information on Anna Jarstad’s research.

In November 2013, the Swedish Research Council decided to give Anna Jarstad SEK 6.523 million as a three-year (2014-16) U-forsk grant for a comparative project entitled ”Introducing democracy from the outside? International Interventions in Afghanistan, Somalia, South Africa and Bosnia-Hercegovina”, to be carried out in collaboration with colleagues at Uppsala University, including a PhD candidate. More information about the South Asia related U-forsk grants 2013.
Till 2011, the U-forsk (developing country research) grants programme was administered by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, but it has now been taken over by the Swedish Research Council. The aim is to establish and maintain a knowledge base of relevance to aid and development issues, plus capacity for developing country research in Sweden. Individual researchers or groups of researchers working at universities/colleges or other research institutions in Sweden have been able to apply for a grant. Swedish citizens working at the Scandinavian Institute for Asian Studies (Nordiska Asieninstitutet, NIAS) in Copenhagen have also had the opportunity. More information.
Project abstract: The purpose is to investigate the question ”When do international and local initiatives of democratization reinforce each other?” The project includes several case studies on external democracy promotion, as well as local initiatives to improve governance. Since the 1990s,democracy promotion has become an integral part of international interventions of peacebuilding and security. At the same time, there is a large debate on whether or not democracy can be introduced from the outside, or whether international democracy promotion rather undermines local initiatives for sustainable democracy. This project investigates this topic through analysis of international as well as local projects in selected regions to understand how these two types of initiatives affect democratization in aid recipient countries. The influences and impacts of these efforts of democratization on each other are analyzed through comparative case analysis both within countries and between different international interventions. The project contributes with new empirical knowledge on external aid to local processes of democratization, more specifically, enhances the understanding of what happens to local processes when democracy promotion is introduced from the outside. In this way, the project is valuable for the design and implementation of future international interventions, and also moves the research field forward.

PhD candidate Marcus Wangel has been enrolled at the Department of Government at Uppsala University since September 2012. He does research on natural resource politics and governance in developing countries in the Global South. More specifically, he examines the role and influence of public bureaucracies and the state in shaping and carrying out natural resource policies aiming towards both conservation and human development. Under what conditions do they succeed or fail? Of further specialisation are participatory models of resource management and the impact of decentralisation reforms on resource governance systems. He primarily relies on qualitative methods of analysis. Addressing these questions is of central importance given the rapid growth and modernisation currently occurring in many developing countries, especially in light of changing climate patterns and political instability. Geographically, his research interest lies primarily in South Asia (and particularly India), a region he observes closely with regards to political and social developments.
In his dissertation work, he focuses on the above questions in the context of southern India, where he has conducted qualitative fieldwork in the State of Kerala for a total of eight months during the period November 2013 – March 2015. For more information please see his departmental webpage, or his LinkedIn presentation page.  

Former South Asia research at the department

PhD Ingrid Widlund defended her dissertation on ”Paths to power and patterns of influence: The Dravidian parties in South Indian politics”, on 7 October 2000. The thesis resulted from a study of the three, regional, Dravidian, parties in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu – a region that has a reputation for its ‘personality politics’. The purpose was to analyse the relationship between modes of mobilisation and the structures of authority in these political parties, that undeniably, although in different degrees and on different ground bestow on their leaders eminence beyond the formal position of rank. Abstract of the dissertation.
Ingrid Widlund was the Deputy Secretary to the Expert Group on Development Issues, EGDI, at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (a group that ceased to exist in May 2007). She is now working within the Ministry’s Department for Asia and Oceania. 

PhD Magdalena Inkinen defended her dissertation on ”Mobilising the Poor: The Case of the BSP in Uttar Pradesh”, on 22 May 2003. The thesis investigates the rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a party that represents the untouchable castes (Scheduled Castes or Dalits) in India. During the 1990s, the BSP emerged as a major political force in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India. The purpose of this study is to explain the remarkable electoral success of the BSP in Uttar Pradesh. Abstract of the dissertation.
In 2008, Dr. Inkinen started to work at the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (Högskoleverket) in Stockholm. 

Professor Emil Uddhammar has been involved in a comparative research project on Development and biodiversity in East Africa and India. The project focuses on the impact different institutional arrangements – political, legal and economic – had on bio-diversity and human development? How has conservation and the economy of villagers living close to protected areas changed over time? Four world-renowned protected areas in Tanzania, Kenya and two states in India are studied, in the project funded by the Swedish Research Council. In India Dr. Uddhammar collaborates with Dr. Vikram Dayal, Research Associate at TERI, the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi. More information on the project.
For some time, he has also been a visiting professor at the University of Hyderabad, India.
In November 2004, Uddhammar received a major three-years grant from the Swedish Research Council for this project. More information, with an abstract in Swedish.
In 2006, Emil Uddhammar became Professor in Political Science at the School of Social Sciences, Växjö University. More information on SASNET’s page about this department,

• Dr. Katrin Uba entered the PhD programme in 2002, and was being supervised by Hans Blomkvist. Her research was focused on the outcome of different forms of political protests i.e. the impact of social movement actions. Empirical material is related to campaigns against privatization in Latin America (Peru), South Asia (India) and Eastern Europe. She worked with a research project, funded by Sida/SAREC, on ”The impact of social movement actions – what makes them more effective.” Among her India related publications, she wrote an article in 2005 titled ”Political Protest and Policy Change: The Direct Impacts of Indian Antiprivatization Mobilizations”; and a 2005 conference paper from the European Sociologist Association (ESA) 7th Conference, held in Torun, Poland, titled ”Anti-Privatisation struggle in India”.
Katrin Uba defended her thesis titled ”Do Protests Make a Difference? The Impact of Anti-Privatisation Mobilisation in India and Peru” on Friday 1 June 2007. It focuses on the impact of various forms of political protests in different contexts. The empirical material is related to campaigns against privatization in Latin America (Peru) and South Asia (India). The aim is to test and develope further the theory on social movement impact on policy change. Faculty Opponent was Professor Anirudh Krishna, Duke University, USA.

Dr. Fiona Rotberg was previously connected to the Silk Road Studies Program, established at Uppsala University in 2002. She has now moved to Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation where she works as programme coordinator.
At the Silk Road Studies Program, she was the Director for the research programme on Environmental Security in Asia. The purpose of the project was to understand to what extent environmental security issues contribute to intrastate conflicts and, ultimately, state failure. Within the field of environmental security, this research specifically analyzes the way that renewable natural resource scarcity contributes to intrastate conflicts. Country case studies were used for comparative analysis and to draw appropriate lessons learned for policy makers.
Within the framework of the Environmental Security in Asia project, a one day forum entitled “Nepal Water Security Forum” was arranged in Uppsala on Tuesday 27 March 2007 (more information). It was organised by Dr. Rotberg in collaboration with Prof. Ashok Swain from the Dept. of Peace and Conflict Studies, Uppsala University. The results from the one day forum has been published as a book titled ”Natural Resources Security in South Asia: Nepal’s Water”, a volume edited by Dr. Fiona Rotberg and Dr. Ashok Swain. Go for the full book.
In October 2007, the Silk Road Studies Program moved from Uppsala to Stockholm, where it became an integrated part of the new Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP). Dr. Rotberg however decided to stay back at Uppsala University, being connected to the Dept. of Eurasian Studies during the period 2007-09.

Fiona Rotberg has also been editor for articles on Environmental Security issues published by the World Security Network, WSN (an international, independent, nonprofit organization, the largest global elite network for foreign and security policy). Dr. Rotberg’s research focuses on natural resource scarcity and state failure. She specializes in the roles that rule of law, community members, and cultural issues play in managing environmental conflicts. Among recent South Asia related articles are:
Nepal: Environmental Scarcity and State Failure (WSN 26 May 2006)
Pakistan and India’s Siachen Glacier: No Man’s Land for Conservation and Peace (WSN 21 September 2006)
The world ‘s highest conservation battlefield: Conservation and security collide in India and Pakistan’s battle for a border glaciers (Asia Media, 18 October 2006)

In November 2007, Dr. Rotberg received SEK 2.9 million as a three years grant (2008-10) from Sida’s Developing Country Research Council (U-landsforskningsrådet) for a project titled ”Humanitarian Challenges of Climate Change: The Role of Social Networks in Promoting Resilience to Climate Variability”. More information about the 2007 Sida grants. The project will be carried out in collaboration with Dr. Dalem Barman, Chairman at the Dept. of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It deals with the projected impact of climate change in South Asia with extreme flooding and thus food insecurity and humanitarian disasters in the form of famine and potentially mass migration. By studying the specific setting of flood-prone areas of Bangladesh, this research project will enhance our understanding of how people cope with and adapt to the impacts of current-day climate variability. The research question to be asked is: “how do social networks contribute to human adaptation to environmental variability in areas subject to extreme natural hazards?” Social networks, as facilitators of collective action, will be examined for how they have influenced livelihood resilience in societies repeatedly affected by extreme natural hazards. This knowledge is much needed to predict society’s vulnerability to future climate change and identify possible needs and options for adaptive action.

Mohan Bera, PhD student from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, India, spent the Fall semester 2012 at the Dept. of Government, as an Erasmus Mundus Action 2 mobikity programme scholarship holder. Mohan works on ‘Flood disaster issue in Indian part of Sundarban region’. He was working with Prof. Sten Widmalm and presented synopsis of his coming PhD thesis. He also attended three important international workshops and conferences in Germany, Norway and Sweden.

Exchange programme with Hyderabad University

From 2002 the Department of Government was involved in a program of teachers and students exchange with the Department of Political Science at Hyderabad University in India. The exchange was funded by a Linnaeus-Palme exchange Programme grant, see http://www.sasnet.lu.se/palmbevi04.html. The collaboration involved exchanging a couple of faculty members for three weeks periods every year, mainly for teaching on graduate and undergraduate level, but also for presentation of research in seminars etc. From the Spring semester 2005 two Masters students from each department also went to the other department to take courses for one semester. These courses were subsequently included in the students’ exam at the home university. The next step forward was to develop and find more common ground between the two departments, both in terms of research and courses offered.
Prof. Prakash Sarangi, chair of the Dept. of Political Science at the University of Hyderabad, has been the Indian counterpart in this exchange programme. He has also been Joint director for the university’s so-called Study India Program(SIP), that runs educational programmes for many International institutions, amongst them the the Nordic Centre in India consortium, NCI