Research on politics at LiU

Politics is about how societies are organized and governed, how power can be formed, exercised and justified. We often associate politics with governmental activity in society, the power that is visible and exercised in our elected assemblies and authorities of various kinds. But we find politics in every aspect of life. It is in the workplace, in associations and organizations, even in the household and family. It could therefore be said that politics is a part of life.


The notion that man is essentially a political creature is by no means a new one. What makes us human is that we are part of a community with others and therefore we need to agree on how we organize the lifetime we share.

In one way, politics is so close to us that it makes us who we are. In another way, politics is often distant. In today's world our everyday lives are not only affected by what is decided in the municipality or in the Riksdag (the Swedish Parliament), but also by EU rules and institutions and global negotiations. The research is therefore in-between the local community and international politics.

An important aspect of research is to explain and understand what actually happens in politics. Another deals with questions of a normative kind, that is, how societies should be governed and organized.

At LiU, research on politics is conducted in the subject of political science as well as in a number of specialized environments.

Research

The Department oc Political Science

Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research (CSPR)

The Centre for Municipality Studies (CKS)

National Center for Priority Setting in Health Care

REMESO - Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society

Tema Kultur och samhälle; Kulturens ekonomi och politik (in Swedish)

Department of Thematic Studies - Technology and Social Change: Energy, Technology and Society

Water and Environmental Studies