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6 - Sweden

from Part II - Qualitative Evidence: The Role of Public Opinion in Education Reforms in Western Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2020

Marius R. Busemeyer
Affiliation:
Universität Konstanz, Germany
Julian L. Garritzmann
Affiliation:
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Am Main
Erik Neimanns
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Cologne
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Summary

This chapter studies the role of public opinion in the politics of education reforms in Sweden during 2006–2018. The chapter uses process tracing (based on primary and secondary sources as well as sixteen interviews with important stakeholders in the education system) to analyze what role public opinion has played in education reforms, from early childhood education to higher education. We find that the influence of public opinion varied depending on the salience and coherence of public opinion on the respective issues. The theoretical framework developed in Chapter 2, therefore, is confirmed. When issues were salient and the general public’s opinion coherent, public opinion had an important impact on policy-makers (e.g. in the cases of the 90-day youth employment guarantee or when raising teachers’ salaries). When issues were salient but attitudes conflicting (as in the cases of the prominent GY2011 school governance reform or in the “profits through the welfare state” debate), public opinion was important to bring the topic on the agenda, but the policy output depended solely on the respective parties in office. Finally, when salience was low, public opinion was negligible and interest groups dominated. The Swedish case study therefore offers detailed qualitative evidence for our theoretical model.

Type
Chapter
Information
A Loud but Noisy Signal?
Public Opinion and Education Reform in Western Europe
, pp. 205 - 239
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Sweden
  • Marius R. Busemeyer, Universität Konstanz, Germany, Julian L. Garritzmann, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Am Main, Erik Neimanns, Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Cologne
  • Book: A Loud but Noisy Signal?
  • Online publication: 14 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108777896.006
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  • Sweden
  • Marius R. Busemeyer, Universität Konstanz, Germany, Julian L. Garritzmann, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Am Main, Erik Neimanns, Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Cologne
  • Book: A Loud but Noisy Signal?
  • Online publication: 14 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108777896.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Sweden
  • Marius R. Busemeyer, Universität Konstanz, Germany, Julian L. Garritzmann, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Am Main, Erik Neimanns, Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Cologne
  • Book: A Loud but Noisy Signal?
  • Online publication: 14 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108777896.006
Available formats
×