Paula Blomqvist
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 376633 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Paula Blomqvist |
| NOMBRES | Paula |
| APELLIDO | Blomqvist |
| FIRMA | BLOMQVIST P |
| AFILIACIONES | Uppsala University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6714-6854 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 19 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 247 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 19 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2004 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2024 |
| ÍNDICE H | 9 |
Have the Welfare Professions Lost Autonomy? A Comparative Study of Doctors and Teachers
This article investigates the impact of NPM reforms on two prominent welfare state professions; medical doctors and teachers. The case study context is Sweden, where the impact of NPM led to a series of reforms in health care and education after 1990. The focus in the paper is on professional autonomy, which can be seen as a core trait in professional work. The findings in the article point to both medical doctors and teachers having lost profess…
Contracting out welfare services
A challenge for governments contracting out public services is holding accountable contractors who fail to meet agreed-upon standards. In social services, contract monitoring is complicated by the fact that contracts tend to be incomplete and performance hard to assess. In this study, we examine how local governments in Sweden hold private contractors accountable in nursing home care. The main finding is that a mixture of accountability mechanism…
Covid (in)equalities
How have differently institutionalized welfare regimes dealt with the Covid-19 crisis? In particular, how have they confronted the social and economic inequalities exposed by the virus? Taking three European countries—Germany, Sweden, and the UK, corresponding broadly to conservative-continental, social democratic, and liberal regime types—this paper tracks the virus response in the areas of income and employment protection and health and residen…
Sweden
This chapter provides an extended look at health politics and the tax-financed, universal health system in Sweden. It traces the historical development of the Swedish healthcare system, characterized by a shifting relationship between a powerful, interventionist state and self-governing county-level governing institutions. Starting in the late 1980s, despite broad political agreement about the need to adapt the system and make it more patient-cen…
Universalism in Welfare Policy
Despite its broad usage, universalism as a concept is not always clearly defined. In this article, a multidimensional definition of universalism in social policy is developed, based on four policy characteristics: inclusion, financing, provision, and the adequacy of benefits. In the empirical part of the article, the feasibility of this definition is tested by an analysis of recent changes in the Swedish welfare state, which is typically describe…
Market-orienting reforms in rural health care in Sweden
Provision of health care in rural areas is not well suited for market reforms introducing competition, as this may undermine the goal of equity in access to health care, even in a publicly financed health care system
Professionalized through audit? Care workers and the new audit regime in Sweden
The professionalization of social care workers is a policy goal in many welfare states. At the same time, professionalization risks being undermined by enhanced audit. The objective of this article is to analyze whether the audit processes adopted in Swedish eldercare and childcare support or undermine the professionalization of the occupations working there, i.e., nurses, nursing assistants, preschool teachers, and preschool assistants. In parti…
Negotiated compliance at the street level
Often portrayed as behaviour that is inconsistent with policy goals, public noncompliance poses a significant challenge for government. To explore what compliance efforts entail on the ground, this study focuses on childhood immunization as a paradigmatic case where a failure to ensure compliance poses a public health risk. The analysis draws on 48 semi‐structured interviews with frontline nurses and regional/national public health officials in E…
User choice in Swedish eldercare – conditions for informed choice and enhanced service quality
Proponents of user choice argue that this type of policy arrangement improves the quality of public social services since users are expected to select the most highly performing providers. In order for users to make informed choices, however, they need quality information about the services offered by different providers. In this article, we carry out a case study, investigating whether information about service quality was presented to users of …
Equal Parenting when Families Break Apart
Shared, or alternating, residence for children when their parents separate is increasingly common. S weden adopted a new policy in 1998 (modified in 2006) which gave courts the mandate to order 50/50 alternating residence against the will of one parent. Since then, the 50/50 alternating residence has become the legal norm in S weden in cases of disputed custody. In this article, we ask how S wedish policymakers reasoned in relation to the potenti…
Parental entrepreneurship in public education
Parental involvement in public education is an expression of joint responsibility between parents and the state in which parents are expected to comply with current educational policy. Moreover, parents are often perceived as reactive, whereas the educational administration is seen as proactive, mainly by reducing barriers and establishing mechanisms for parental involvement. Referring to proactive involvement in which parents practice noncomplia…
The Universal Decline of Universality? Social Policy Change in C anada, D enmark, S weden and the UK
The debate about the future of universal social programmes has been raging for years, both in social‐democratic and in liberal welfare states. The objective of this article is to contribute to the literature on universality by analyzing the evolution of universal social programmes in two social‐democratic and two liberal countries: D enmark, S weden, C anada and the UK . This choice of countries provides the opportunity to investigate whether the…
The trade-off between choice and equity
How do policymakers deal with the tension between choice and equity in healthcare? An analysis and critical examination of Swedish policymakers’ arguments when introducing legislated choice of primary care provider in 2010 shows that even when deciding on a reform with a potentially great impact on distribution of health resources, implications for equity were not systematically addressed. Effects with regards to current patterns of healthcare co…
Conflict and Compliance in Swedish Health Care Governance
Soft law, or non‐legislative modes of policy making, is becoming increasingly common today. The Nordic countries have a long tradition soft law, not least in central–local relations, where non‐binding agreements are frequently used to coordinate policies. A key question springing from soft law theory is that of compliance. Why do independent actors comply if they are not formally obliged to do so, and what happens if they donotcomply? This articl…
Privatization of social services
Regionalisation Nordic Style
Governance in the Nordic countries has a highly local character. Most public services are provided by locally elected bodies that enjoy a high degree of autonomy in relation to political institutions at the national level. In recent years, questions about the appropriate size of local government have re-surfaced, prompted, at least in part, by the current trend towards regionalisation within the EU. In this paper we investigate empirically the qu…
Sjukvårdsreformer i Polen och Tjeckien. Varför så ̈olika framgång
The Choice Revolution
During the 1990s, the Swedish welfare state was declared by some to be in a “crisis”, due to both financial strain and loss of political support. Others have argued that the spending cuts and reforms undertaken during this period did slow down the previous increase in social spending, but left the system basically intact. The main argument put forward in this article is that the Swedish welfare state has been and is still undergoing a transformin…
Defeat at Home? Issue-Ownership and Social Democratic Support in Scandinavia
The aim of this article is to account for the differences in electoral support for social democratic parties in Scandinavia in recent years. The main argument put forward is that the relative success of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) in preserving voter support compared to the major decline for both the Danish and Norwegian social democrats should be understood by focusing on two factors, both related to the phenomenon of issue-voting.…
The Choice Revolution
During the 1990s, the Swedish welfare state was declared by some to be in a “crisis”, due to both financial strain and loss of political support. Others have argued that the spending cuts and reforms undertaken during this period did slow down the previous increase in social spending, but left the system basically intact. The main argument put forward in this article is that the Swedish welfare state has been and is still undergoing a transformin…
Privatization of social services
Defeat at Home? Issue-Ownership and Social Democratic Support in Scandinavia
The aim of this article is to account for the differences in electoral support for social democratic parties in Scandinavia in recent years. The main argument put forward is that the relative success of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) in preserving voter support compared to the major decline for both the Danish and Norwegian social democrats should be understood by focusing on two factors, both related to the phenomenon of issue-voting.…
Negotiated compliance at the street level
Often portrayed as behaviour that is inconsistent with policy goals, public noncompliance poses a significant challenge for government. To explore what compliance efforts entail on the ground, this study focuses on childhood immunization as a paradigmatic case where a failure to ensure compliance poses a public health risk. The analysis draws on 48 semi‐structured interviews with frontline nurses and regional/national public health officials in E…
Universalism in Welfare Policy
Despite its broad usage, universalism as a concept is not always clearly defined. In this article, a multidimensional definition of universalism in social policy is developed, based on four policy characteristics: inclusion, financing, provision, and the adequacy of benefits. In the empirical part of the article, the feasibility of this definition is tested by an analysis of recent changes in the Swedish welfare state, which is typically describe…
User choice in Swedish eldercare – conditions for informed choice and enhanced service quality
Proponents of user choice argue that this type of policy arrangement improves the quality of public social services since users are expected to select the most highly performing providers. In order for users to make informed choices, however, they need quality information about the services offered by different providers. In this article, we carry out a case study, investigating whether information about service quality was presented to users of …
The Universal Decline of Universality? Social Policy Change in C anada, D enmark, S weden and the UK
The debate about the future of universal social programmes has been raging for years, both in social‐democratic and in liberal welfare states. The objective of this article is to contribute to the literature on universality by analyzing the evolution of universal social programmes in two social‐democratic and two liberal countries: D enmark, S weden, C anada and the UK . This choice of countries provides the opportunity to investigate whether the…
The trade-off between choice and equity
How do policymakers deal with the tension between choice and equity in healthcare? An analysis and critical examination of Swedish policymakers’ arguments when introducing legislated choice of primary care provider in 2010 shows that even when deciding on a reform with a potentially great impact on distribution of health resources, implications for equity were not systematically addressed. Effects with regards to current patterns of healthcare co…
Conflict and Compliance in Swedish Health Care Governance
Soft law, or non‐legislative modes of policy making, is becoming increasingly common today. The Nordic countries have a long tradition soft law, not least in central–local relations, where non‐binding agreements are frequently used to coordinate policies. A key question springing from soft law theory is that of compliance. Why do independent actors comply if they are not formally obliged to do so, and what happens if they donotcomply? This articl…
Parental entrepreneurship in public education
Parental involvement in public education is an expression of joint responsibility between parents and the state in which parents are expected to comply with current educational policy. Moreover, parents are often perceived as reactive, whereas the educational administration is seen as proactive, mainly by reducing barriers and establishing mechanisms for parental involvement. Referring to proactive involvement in which parents practice noncomplia…
Covid (in)equalities
How have differently institutionalized welfare regimes dealt with the Covid-19 crisis? In particular, how have they confronted the social and economic inequalities exposed by the virus? Taking three European countries—Germany, Sweden, and the UK, corresponding broadly to conservative-continental, social democratic, and liberal regime types—this paper tracks the virus response in the areas of income and employment protection and health and residen…
Professionalized through audit? Care workers and the new audit regime in Sweden
The professionalization of social care workers is a policy goal in many welfare states. At the same time, professionalization risks being undermined by enhanced audit. The objective of this article is to analyze whether the audit processes adopted in Swedish eldercare and childcare support or undermine the professionalization of the occupations working there, i.e., nurses, nursing assistants, preschool teachers, and preschool assistants. In parti…
Equal Parenting when Families Break Apart
Shared, or alternating, residence for children when their parents separate is increasingly common. S weden adopted a new policy in 1998 (modified in 2006) which gave courts the mandate to order 50/50 alternating residence against the will of one parent. Since then, the 50/50 alternating residence has become the legal norm in S weden in cases of disputed custody. In this article, we ask how S wedish policymakers reasoned in relation to the potenti…
Regionalisation Nordic Style
Governance in the Nordic countries has a highly local character. Most public services are provided by locally elected bodies that enjoy a high degree of autonomy in relation to political institutions at the national level. In recent years, questions about the appropriate size of local government have re-surfaced, prompted, at least in part, by the current trend towards regionalisation within the EU. In this paper we investigate empirically the qu…
Have the Welfare Professions Lost Autonomy? A Comparative Study of Doctors and Teachers
This article investigates the impact of NPM reforms on two prominent welfare state professions; medical doctors and teachers. The case study context is Sweden, where the impact of NPM led to a series of reforms in health care and education after 1990. The focus in the paper is on professional autonomy, which can be seen as a core trait in professional work. The findings in the article point to both medical doctors and teachers having lost profess…
The Choice Revolution
During the 1990s, the Swedish welfare state was declared by some to be in a “crisis”, due to both financial strain and loss of political support. Others have argued that the spending cuts and reforms undertaken during this period did slow down the previous increase in social spending, but left the system basically intact. The main argument put forward in this article is that the Swedish welfare state has been and is still undergoing a transformin…
Defeat at Home? Issue-Ownership and Social Democratic Support in Scandinavia
The aim of this article is to account for the differences in electoral support for social democratic parties in Scandinavia in recent years. The main argument put forward is that the relative success of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) in preserving voter support compared to the major decline for both the Danish and Norwegian social democrats should be understood by focusing on two factors, both related to the phenomenon of issue-voting.…
Sjukvårdsreformer i Polen och Tjeckien. Varför så ̈olika framgång
Regionalisation Nordic Style
Governance in the Nordic countries has a highly local character. Most public services are provided by locally elected bodies that enjoy a high degree of autonomy in relation to political institutions at the national level. In recent years, questions about the appropriate size of local government have re-surfaced, prompted, at least in part, by the current trend towards regionalisation within the EU. In this paper we investigate empirically the qu…
Privatization of social services
Conflict and Compliance in Swedish Health Care Governance
Soft law, or non‐legislative modes of policy making, is becoming increasingly common today. The Nordic countries have a long tradition soft law, not least in central–local relations, where non‐binding agreements are frequently used to coordinate policies. A key question springing from soft law theory is that of compliance. Why do independent actors comply if they are not formally obliged to do so, and what happens if they donotcomply? This articl…
The trade-off between choice and equity
How do policymakers deal with the tension between choice and equity in healthcare? An analysis and critical examination of Swedish policymakers’ arguments when introducing legislated choice of primary care provider in 2010 shows that even when deciding on a reform with a potentially great impact on distribution of health resources, implications for equity were not systematically addressed. Effects with regards to current patterns of healthcare co…
Parental entrepreneurship in public education
Parental involvement in public education is an expression of joint responsibility between parents and the state in which parents are expected to comply with current educational policy. Moreover, parents are often perceived as reactive, whereas the educational administration is seen as proactive, mainly by reducing barriers and establishing mechanisms for parental involvement. Referring to proactive involvement in which parents practice noncomplia…
The Universal Decline of Universality? Social Policy Change in C anada, D enmark, S weden and the UK
The debate about the future of universal social programmes has been raging for years, both in social‐democratic and in liberal welfare states. The objective of this article is to contribute to the literature on universality by analyzing the evolution of universal social programmes in two social‐democratic and two liberal countries: D enmark, S weden, C anada and the UK . This choice of countries provides the opportunity to investigate whether the…
User choice in Swedish eldercare – conditions for informed choice and enhanced service quality
Proponents of user choice argue that this type of policy arrangement improves the quality of public social services since users are expected to select the most highly performing providers. In order for users to make informed choices, however, they need quality information about the services offered by different providers. In this article, we carry out a case study, investigating whether information about service quality was presented to users of …
Equal Parenting when Families Break Apart
Shared, or alternating, residence for children when their parents separate is increasingly common. S weden adopted a new policy in 1998 (modified in 2006) which gave courts the mandate to order 50/50 alternating residence against the will of one parent. Since then, the 50/50 alternating residence has become the legal norm in S weden in cases of disputed custody. In this article, we ask how S wedish policymakers reasoned in relation to the potenti…
Market-orienting reforms in rural health care in Sweden
Provision of health care in rural areas is not well suited for market reforms introducing competition, as this may undermine the goal of equity in access to health care, even in a publicly financed health care system
Professionalized through audit? Care workers and the new audit regime in Sweden
The professionalization of social care workers is a policy goal in many welfare states. At the same time, professionalization risks being undermined by enhanced audit. The objective of this article is to analyze whether the audit processes adopted in Swedish eldercare and childcare support or undermine the professionalization of the occupations working there, i.e., nurses, nursing assistants, preschool teachers, and preschool assistants. In parti…
Negotiated compliance at the street level
Often portrayed as behaviour that is inconsistent with policy goals, public noncompliance poses a significant challenge for government. To explore what compliance efforts entail on the ground, this study focuses on childhood immunization as a paradigmatic case where a failure to ensure compliance poses a public health risk. The analysis draws on 48 semi‐structured interviews with frontline nurses and regional/national public health officials in E…
Universalism in Welfare Policy
Despite its broad usage, universalism as a concept is not always clearly defined. In this article, a multidimensional definition of universalism in social policy is developed, based on four policy characteristics: inclusion, financing, provision, and the adequacy of benefits. In the empirical part of the article, the feasibility of this definition is tested by an analysis of recent changes in the Swedish welfare state, which is typically describe…
Sweden
This chapter provides an extended look at health politics and the tax-financed, universal health system in Sweden. It traces the historical development of the Swedish healthcare system, characterized by a shifting relationship between a powerful, interventionist state and self-governing county-level governing institutions. Starting in the late 1980s, despite broad political agreement about the need to adapt the system and make it more patient-cen…
Contracting out welfare services
A challenge for governments contracting out public services is holding accountable contractors who fail to meet agreed-upon standards. In social services, contract monitoring is complicated by the fact that contracts tend to be incomplete and performance hard to assess. In this study, we examine how local governments in Sweden hold private contractors accountable in nursing home care. The main finding is that a mixture of accountability mechanism…
Covid (in)equalities
How have differently institutionalized welfare regimes dealt with the Covid-19 crisis? In particular, how have they confronted the social and economic inequalities exposed by the virus? Taking three European countries—Germany, Sweden, and the UK, corresponding broadly to conservative-continental, social democratic, and liberal regime types—this paper tracks the virus response in the areas of income and employment protection and health and residen…
Have the Welfare Professions Lost Autonomy? A Comparative Study of Doctors and Teachers
This article investigates the impact of NPM reforms on two prominent welfare state professions; medical doctors and teachers. The case study context is Sweden, where the impact of NPM led to a series of reforms in health care and education after 1990. The focus in the paper is on professional autonomy, which can be seen as a core trait in professional work. The findings in the article point to both medical doctors and teachers having lost profess…
Political science (17 obras) · Law (13 obras) · Business (10 obras) · Law (10 obras) · Politics (10 obras) · Economics (9 obras) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (9 obras) · Welfare (9 obras) · Sociology (8 obras) · Economic growth (7 obras)