Political Science » Research » Maritta Soininen

Maritta Soininen

Professor, head of department

E-mail: maritta.soininen@statsvet.su.se

Contact »

Current engagements

• Member of the Swedish Election Authority Board 2010-

• Member of an evaluation panel, Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) 2010-

• Member of the steering board, Centre for Research on Bilingualism, University of Stockholm, 2010 -

• Editor in Chief, Scandinavian Political Studies, Scandinavian Political Studies (SPS), Wiley-Blackwell, 2010 - 

• Scientific leader of REMESO/FAS-ESF funded multidisciplinary program Work, Market and Integration (Tema Integration i Arbetslivet). The program addresses the local public-private collaboration in developing novel methods for labour market integration. University of Linköping, 2010-2011.

• Nordic Research Workshop, at NOPSA (Nordic Political Science Association), (together with Ann-Helen Bay, Institutt for samfunnsforskning, Oslo, and Per Strömblad, Institutet för Framtidsstudier). Workshop: Mångfald och integration i Norden (Diversity and Integration in Nordic Countries), August 9-12, 2011.

Current research interests and projects

Her research interests are public policy, policy implementation, and political participation, primarily in the field of migration and ethnic relations. Her research includes organisational analysis as well as comparative policy analysis.

In the study Partierna nominerar. Exkluderingens mekanismer – etnicitet och representation (Party Nominations. Mechanisms of Exclusion – Ethnicity and Representation, 2006) the central question focuses the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion of minorities in Swedish political parties, in particular the internal party processes of nomination of political candidates. Unlike much of the work that focuses on mobilisation and the numerical representation of ethnic and other minorities in the political constituencies, this study investigates how recent developments in Swedish political parties - the management rationale of being efficient modern organisations and the shift from mass parties to electoral parties - affect their capacity to engage minorities in the democratic process of the formulation of interests and identities. (See further: 2010, "Ethnic Inclusion or Exclusion in Representation? Local Candidate Selection in Sweden", in The Political Representation of Immigrants and Minorities. Voters, Parties and Parliaments in Liberal Democracies, Bird K, Saalfeld T., and Wüst A.(eds), Routledge; and 2010, "Hacia una democracia incluyente? 30 anos de derechos electorales para los immigrantes en los comicios locales suecos", in Sufragio y participation politica de los extranjeros extracomunitarios en Europa, D. Moya Malapeira y A. Vinas Ferrer, Fundacio Carles Pi i Sunyer: Barcelona.)

Currently she is an affiliated researcher at the REMESO Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society (FAS Centre of Excellence for Migration, Economy and Society) at Linköping University, and a member of a programme, Ethnic divisions, social exclusion/inclusion and the reconstruction of normative and legal frameworks. Moreover, she is a research director for research on Integration in working life. Until 2006 she acted as a programme leader responsible for the Diversity Practice and Policy, an international comparative research programme on multi-ethnic working life in transition, at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life. Migration, demographic development in the Europe, and globalisation place questions of diversity and anti-discrimination high on the political agenda. New forms of diversity actualise central issues about democracy, citizenship and the workings of the welfare state. The research was carried out in collaboration with research groups in other countries, among them the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Denmark and the USA.

She was responsible for a comparative research project Diversity and Anti-Discrimination Policies in the Diverse World of Work (2003-2006), funded by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research. The project examined the translation of the EU anti-discrimination legislation into the policy traditions and institutional arrangements of member states, and how its effects on public policy, legislation and administration. (See further: 2009, Institutions Matter – Governance Makes Difference: Making of Diversity and Antidiscrimination Policy – the Dutch and the UK Case, Report ThemES - Themes on Migration and Ethnic Studies.)

2002-2004 she conducted the transnational project Minority Representation in Police Organisations – Transnational Measures, funded by the Commission (Employment and Social Affairs DG). This policy development project addressed the under-representation of ethnic and gay/lesbian minorities within the police authorities of the member states, Sweden, the Netherlands and Greece. The focus of the project was on the organisations and their recruitment policies and practices.

During 2005-2010 she has also served as a member of the Steering Board for International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER), at Norwegian Research Council. 

Key note addresses

Political parties – perspectives on recruitment and local candidate nomination processes, at Wie muss eine chancenge rechte Integrationspolitik aussehen? Praxisorientierte Fachkonferenz. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Forum Berlin, 2 December, 2010.

How to increase the representation of immigrants in political organisations? Conference, Successful Integration Policies in Scandinavia – A Symposium on best practices, challenges and opportunities. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, (FESnord.org alt. FES.de), CEVEA, Copenhagen, 22 November, 2010.

Joint Policy Governance for New Jobs – Business Partners and Employment Policy at the EU, Subnational and Local Level, at the Conference ‘Unemployment and the Global Financial Crises: Policy, Partnerships and Practice’, The Centre for Public Policy, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 1-2 December 2009.

Selected publications

Books and reports

2011, Kön, makt, nation. Tillägnad Maud Eduards. Redaktörer, Diane Sainsbury och Maritta Soininen, Stockholm University

2009, Institutions Matter – Governance Makes Difference: Making of Diversity and Antidiscrimination Policy – the Dutch and the UK Case, Report ThemES - Themes on Migration and Ethnic Studies, ISSN 1651-8306; 09/31: Linköping University Electronic Press

2006, Partierna nominerar. Exkluderingens mekanismer – etnicitet och representation (Party Nominations. Mechanisms of Exclusion – Ethnicity and Representation) together with Nils Etzler. SOU 2006:53. Stockholm: Fritzes.

2004, Politisk annonsering eller nätverkande? (Political Advertising or Networking?) together with Henry Bäck. Report 61, School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg.

1998, Den kommunala invandrarpolitiken – arenor, aktörer och barriärer (Local Immigrant-Policies:Arenas, Actors and Barriers) together with Henry Bäck. Stockholm: SNS Förlag.

1997, Case Study of Good Practice for Prevention of Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia and the Promotion of Equal Treatment in the Workplace: Sweden”(together with Mark Graham), European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin.

1996, Invandrarna, demokration och samhället. Om invandrarnas demokratiska deltagande i dagens Sverige (Immigrants, Democracy and Society. About the Political Participation of Immigrants in Sweden Today) together with Henry Bäck. Report 2, School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg

1995, Persuasion contra legislation: Preventing Racism at the Workplace. Sweden (together with Mark Graham), European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin.

1992, Det kommunala flyktingmottagandet. Genomförande och organisation (Local refugee-care – implementation and organisation) Stockholm, CEIFO, Centre for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Publications.

1989, Samhällsbilder i vardande. Politisk socialisation och den finska andra generationen. (Emerging Perceptions of Society - Political Socialisation and the Second Generation Finnish Immigrants), Stockholm Studies in Politics 37.

Articles and chapters in edited volumes

2010, "Hacia una democracia incluyente? 30 anos de derechos electorales para los immigrantes en los comicios locales suecos", in Sufragio y participation politica de los extranjeros extracomunitarios en Europa, D. Moya Malapeira y A. Vinas Ferrer (eds). ISBN: 978-84-95417-91-6. Fundacio Carles Pi i Sunyer: Barcelona.

2010, "Ethnic Inclusion or Exclusion in Representation? Local Candidate Selection in Sweden", in The Political Representation of Immigrants and Minorities. Voters, Parties and Parliaments in Liberal Democracies, Bird K, Saalfeld T., and Wüst A.(eds). Routledge.

2006, "Public policy-making with Civil Society Organisations: Partner Collaboration in Implementing the EU Anti-discrimination Legislation", in State of Welfare. Politics, Policies and Parties in (Post-) Welfare Society, (eds) Linde, C., Eduards M and A. Segerberg. Department of Political Science, Stockholm University.

2004, "Partiernas genomförande av insatser" ("The measures implemented by the political parties") in Bäck & Soininen (eds) Politisk annonsering eller nätverkande? (Political Advertising or Networking?) Report 61, School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg.

2003, "Exploring EU Ethnic Diversity and Anti-discrimination Policy", in Migration and Labour in Europe, (eds) Zeybekoglu E and B Johansson, Istanbul: Mathabaasu.

2000, "Positive Action in Sweden: from Central Solutions to Local Responsibility for Combating Ethnic Discrimination” (together with Mark Graham) in Erna Appelt (ed), Combating Racial Discrimination: Affirmative Action as a Model for Europe? Oxford: Berg.

1999, "Electoral Participation among Immigrants in Sweden: Integration, Culture and Participation" (together with Henry Bäck) in Steven Vertovec (ed), Migration and Social Cohesion, Edward Elgar Publishing.

1999, "The Swedish Model as an Institutional Framework for Immigrant Interest Mobilisation and Citizenship" in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 25 No. 4, 685-702.

1999, "Invandrarkandidaterna i personvalet" ("Immigrants as Electoral Candidates") together with Henry Bäck in Sören Holmberg and Tommy Möller (eds), Premiär för personval (Introducing Candidate Vote Alongside Party Vote), SOU 1999:92.

1999, "Invandrare som medborgare, väljare och politiker" ("Immigrants as Citizens, Voters and Politicians") together with Henry Bäck in Erik Amnå (ed), Medborgarnas erfarenheter (Citizens' experiences), SOU 1999:119.

1999, "Refugee Care in Sweden: the Problem of Unemployment and anti-Discrimination policies" in John Wrench (eds), Migrant, Ethnic Minorities and the Labour Market - Integration and Exclusion in Europe, McMillan Press Ltd.

1998, "Immigrants in the Political Process" (together with Henry Bäck), Scandinavian Political Studies, Vol. 21, No.1, 29-50.

1998 "A Model for Immigrants? The Swedish Corporate Model and Prevention of Ethnic Discrimination" (together with Mark Graham), Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 24 No. 3, 523-539.

1996, "Invandrarna, demokratin och samhället" ("Immigrants, Democracy and Society. About the Political Participation of Immigrants in Sweden Today") together with Henry Bäck in På medborgarnas villkor – en demokratisk infrastruktur (From the citizens view), SOU 1996:162.

1994, "Invandrarnas valdeltagande" ("Electoral participation among Immigrants") together with Henry Bäck in Väljare i kommunalvalet. Om missnöje, misstroende och politisk kultur (Voters in local elections), Bäck Henry and Anders Håkansson (eds). Stockholm: SNS Förlag.

1993, "La participation électorale des immigrés en Suede" (together with Hammar T, Malmström C, Bäck H) in Les étrangers dans la cite. Expériences europénnes, Le Cour Grandmaison O & Wihtol de Wenden C (eds), Editions la Découverte, Paris.

1993, "Electoral Participation among Immigrants in Sweden: Integration, Culture and Participation", in New Community, vol 20, 111-130.

Evaluation report

2005, Diversity, empowerment, innovation: The X Train – An equal journey. A process study of a transnational partnership. The EQUAL project Diversity Faces, Linköping.

Conference papers 2004-

2009 Incentives and identities in joint policy governance: The EU programme EQUAL and Swedish partnerships for economic growth, Paper presented at the Conference ‘Unemployment and the Global Financial Crises: Policy, Partnerships and Practice’, The Centre for Public Policy, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 1-2 December 2009.

2006 Deliberative collaboration with obstacles. Policymaking and anti-discrimination legislation in the EU. A refereed conference paper presented at the Centre for Public Policy, University of Melbourne, Governments and Communities in Partnership conference, September 2006.

2005 Institutions, governance and policy. Implementing the EU anti-discrimination legislation. A Paper presented at the XIV Nordiske Statskundskabskongres (NOPSA), in workshop ‘Mångfald, inkludering och medborgarskap i Norden – ur ett upp- och nedifrånperspektiv, in Reykjavik, Iceland , 11-13 August 2005.

2004 For Diversity and Against Discrimination’ - Exploring the EU Diversity and Anti-discrimination Policy. A Paper presented at the Worksop ‘Approaches to Diversity: Management and Policies for Diversity – Regulation ion Private and Public Sector Organisations’, in Bloomington, Indiana, August 2004.

Other positions

• Member of the Board, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, 1997-2000, 2006-2008 (substitute)
• Member of the Board, Centre for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Stockholm University, 1995-2010
• Member of the Board, Swedish Political Science Association, 1998-2001
• Member of the Board, Nordic Political Science Association, 1999-2001
• Member of the Board, European Political Science Network, 2001-2005
• Member of the Board, Social Science Faculty, Stockholm University, 2003–2008
• Member of the Steering Group for Evaluation of the Swedish Equal Programme, the Swedish ESF (European Social Fund) Council, 2004-2005
• Member of the Research Board, Swedish Institute for Working Life, 2005-2007
• Member of the Swedish UNESCO Committee, Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) 2005-2007
• Member of Steering Board for International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) of the Norwegian Research Council 2005–2010
• Deputy head, CEIFO, Centre for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Stockholm University 2010
• Member of the governing board, Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Stockholm University, 2009-