Integration of Critical Infrastructure and Societal Consequence Models: Impact on Swedish Power System Mitigation Decisions

Critical infrastructures provide society with services essential to its functioning, and extensive disruptions give rise to large societal consequences. Risk and vulnerability analyses of critical infrastructures generally focus narrowly on the infrastructure of interest and describe the consequences as nonsupplied commodities or the cost of unsupplied commodities; they rarely holistically consider the larger impact with respect to higher‐order consequences for the society. From a societal perspective, this narrow focus may lead to severe underestimation of the negative effects of infrastructure disruptions. To explore this theory, an integrated modeling approach, combining models of critical infrastructures and economic input–output models, is proposed and applied in a case study. In the case study, a representative model of the Swedish power transmission system and a regionalized economic input–output model are utilized. This enables exploration of how a narrow infrastructure or a more holistic societal consequence perspective affects vulnerability‐related mitigation decisions regarding critical infrastructures. Two decision contexts related to prioritization of different vulnerability‐reducing measures are considered—identifying critical components and adding system components to increase robustness. It is concluded that higher‐order societal consequences due to power supply disruptions can be up to twice as large as first‐order consequences, which in turn has a significant effect on the identification of which critical components are to be protected or strengthened and a smaller effect on the ranking of improvement measures in terms of adding system components to increase system redundancy.     

Managing competence acquisition and financial performance: An empirical study of how small firms use competence acquisition strategies

Past research has neglected how small firms manage competence acquisition. Based on transaction cost literature, this article identifies competence acquisition management strategies and their implications for performance. We explore this issue using survey data from 842 small, knowledge-intensive firms. The results outline four aspects of competence acquisition management: (1) competence absorbers, (2) social acquirers, (3) market acquirers, and (4) nonacquirers. Furthermore, we hypothesized and found that market acquirers score higher in terms of financial performance than firms following the other strategies. The market acquirer strategy proved particularly effective under conditions of high dynamism.     

Democracy between collectivism and individualism. De-nationalisation and individualisation in Swedish national identity

This article studies contemporary national identity formation in Sweden, aiming to shed light on the relationship between democracy, collectivism and individualism. Sweden is selected as a typical case of democratic states which, reflecting processes of individualisation and de-nationalisation, have endorsed individualism and rejected nationalism. Empirically, the formulation of identity is studied on an elite level. While the values of anti-nationalism and individualism have been successfully incorporated into Swedish national discourse, it does not necessarily reflect a de-nationalisation or individualisation of Swedish identity. The rejection of nationalism is a unifying national value, and individualism is in practice often subordinated to other values deemed more essential, e.g. gender equality. Finally, the democratic exclusions within the identity discourse is discussed and it is argued that cultures perceived as less individualist and more nationalist have come to function as significant others, defining Swedishness.     

To be,or not to be,that is the question: An empirical study of the WTP for an increased life expectancy at an advanced age

This study reports an attempt to measure the value of an increased survival probability at advanced ages. It turns out that the average willingness to pay for a program which would increase the expected length of life by one year, conditional on having survived to the age of 75 years, is lower than $1,500. The willingness to pay increases with a person's age, but at a low and seemingly constant rate (1–4 percent per year).     

The heroine and the capitalist: the profession's debate about privatisation of Swedish social work

Since the 1990s, as a consequence of economic crisis and ideological and political redirections, welfare provision in Sweden has undergone processes of decentralisation, market orientation and privatisation. Publicly financed services provided by subcontracted private enterprises have increased substantially in every welfare sector, including social work. Furthermore, numbers of self-employed social workers also appear to be increasing. The aim of the article is to describe and analyse the debate on privatisation in professional social work journals. More than 700 articles gleaned from 1100 issues of four professional journals spanning the period 1985–2003 have been analysed using a combination of quantitative content and qualitative discourse analysis. The results show that the debate has shifted from ideology to pragmatics in the two major social work unions, although, despite de-polarisation tendencies, ambivalence towards private social work is evident.     

Stress experienced by informal caregivers On conflicting demands in everyday life

Stress was defined as a conflict experienced between contradictory demands on the disposition of time and space in the life situation of caregivers. The following questions were asked: are there any family or gender related patterns to be found in the individual expressions of stress experiences? How can differences in stress experiences be explained in terms of work load, sociocultural demands related to gender and family relations, or lack of control in everyday life? What are the effects of a well developed welfare system? What are the differences between a rural and an urban setting and how do different life modes influence sociocultural demands and individual decision latitudes, creating and limiting different contributions of care? How are cultural characteristics reflected in stress experiences? The sample consists of 99 care recipients, all in intense formal care, and the person identified by the care recipient as the person in the informal network who contributed most or took most responsibility in caregiving. Stress experience among main helpers is related to area of living, main helper's gender, kin relation to the care recipient and lack of a shared responsibility within the informal network. Obtaining support in the caring situation reduces the instrumental demands and also the experience of stress. Women in urban areas had less caring commitments in the informal network but also experienced more stress. Help from public home services, however, was not found to reduce the instrumental demands and experiences of stress in all situations.     

Out-of-home care among immigrant children in Sweden: a national cohort study

We used data from several national registers for ten entire birth cohorts ( n  > 1 million) to examine the representation of first generation immigrant children among first time entries into out-of-home care (foster or residential care) at ages 7–12 and 13–17. Logistic regression models were used to adjust results for socioeconomic background factors. Immigrant children were categorised in six groups relating to birth country/continent. Compared with Swedish-born peers, immigrant children from non-European countries had between two- and three-fold sex and birth-year adjusted odds for being placed in care for the first time at ages 7–12. After adjustments for five socioeconomic background variables, none of these overrisks remained. Instead there was a tendency towards immigrant background being associated with reduced risks, statistically significant for immigrant children born in non-Nordic European countries. Immigrant children had between two- and six-fold age and birth-year adjusted odds for entering care for the first time during adolescence. After adjusting the results for socioeconomic background, only immigrant children born in Sub-Saharan Africa or in Asia outside the Middle East had significant overrisks for care entries at ages 13–17 (odds ratio = 1.5).     

Putting Peace to the Vote: Displaced Persons and a Future Referendum on Nagorno-Karabakh

Fifteen years after the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, the conflictremains unresolved, and Azerbaijan remains host to one of theworld's largest per capita populations of internally displacedpersons (IDPs). Current plans for a settlement of the conflictenvision a crucial role for these IDPs, by proposing their returnand participation in a referendum to decide the future statusof the disputed territory. This article outlines several issuesthat need to be considered when arranging for such a referendum:what territory will the referendum concern, who will be eligibleto vote, what options will voters choose among, and how willthe results be determined? These issues arise from previousexperiences of peace processes that provided for referenda.In conclusion, the article argues that the referendum be arrangedin such a way as to increase uncertainty about the outcome,rather than gearing it towards one that seeks to confirm andlegitimize a solution negotiated by governments.