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Rethinking Democracy
The Rethinking Democracy research platform (REDEM) is a shared space for discussing questions around democracy. We consider broad issues such as what democracy actually is, how it should work, and criteria for a functioning democracy. Alongside this, we consider how democracy functions beyond formal political settings, and in other spheres of social life.
Want to join?
The Rethinking Democracy research platform is open to all researchers at Malmö University and our external stakeholders who are broadly interested in theories and practices of democracy and its discontents.
Do you want to receive news on seminars and events organized by the platform? Or perhaps you have a paper you want to present? A seminar you would like to organize or a guest speaker you would like to invite? Do not hesitate to contact us at redem@mau.se
Our research
We live in a time of democratic paradoxes. A number of democratically elected leaders in the world are challenging basic democratic norms and institutions, and subverting the language of democracy to legitimise their actions. Younger generations are less likely to vote, yet often engage with political issues more than older generations.
Corporations have gained greater rights to counter public interest regulations, but we also see new forms of consumer participation and shareholder activism. Democracy is traditionally tied to the nation state, but issues seem to increasingly require transnational and/or local action. Political parties gain votes on the basis of being ‘nationalistic’, but many of their policies impact those who are not included within the nation-state’s boundaries.
REDEM combines the disciplines of political science, history of ideas, cultural studies, media studies, linguistic studies, communication for development and urban studies. From these respective backgrounds we address questions related to the multiple crises currently facing liberal and electoral democracy, the history and future of democracy and possible ways of rethinking democratic institutions, and civic engagement in the face of growing movements of authoritarian populism.
We work across four core themes:
A political representation crisis?
This examines new ‘representation gaps’ arising from migration, transnational citizenship, linguistic exclusion and new public management practices.
Extra-institutional democracy and everyday public spheres
Looking at democracy in the everyday sphere, it focusses on traditional and social media, and economic activity as a means of contesting social and political configurations.
Conviviality – conceptual ambiguities and envisioned futures
Addresses the presence of the stranger and the radically new double demand on democracy for social justice for the recognition of difference. The lenses of three inter-related concepts are used – cosmopolitanism, conviviality and creolisation.
The global diffusion and reversal of counter-norms to liberal democracy
Investigates the global spread of the rhetoric of illiberalism, using analytical tools as theories of political rhetoric, diffusion of political ideas, and discourse analysis.
Redem seminars
REDEM Seminars

REDEM's task is to foster well-informed and critical discussions around the past, present, and future of democracy as a political form for public decision-making. Take part in our public video archive.
Pandemocracy
Conviviality and everyday politics in times of crisis. 15-16 September 2021 – A two-day international conference on rethinking democracy in the context of the Covid19 pandemic.
https://play.mau.se/playlist/dedicated/318661/0_rapanfia/0_r17hlqui
Pandemocracy
The conference 15-16 September 2021 explored the challenge and opportunities the pandemic created for democracy, with a special focus on everyday democratic engagement, conviviality, local politics, activism and communication for social change.
The Pandemocracy Conference – program and links
Wednesday 15 September
Intro and welcome
With Professor Rebecka Lettevall, Dean of the Faculty of Culture and Society
Mau Play – welcome by dean Rebecka Lettevall
The pandemic as an accelerator: Implications of digitalization
Keynote 1 with Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Professor of social anthropology, University of
Oslo. Chair: Oscar Hemer, Malmö University
MaU Play – keynote 1: Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Distrust, fear and disinformation
Paper panel 1 with Chair: Anders Hög Hansen, K3, Malmö University.
MaU Play – Panel 1: Distrust, fear and disinformation
The pandemic’s role in reconfiguring power relations
Paper panel 2 with Chair: Maria Brock, K3, Malmö University.
MaU Play – Panel 2: The pandemic's role in reconfiguring power relations
Roundtable discussion
Magdalena Nowiska (Humboldt university Germany),
Marina Nistotskaya (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) and Gabriel Siles-Brugge (Warwick University, UK)
Covid-19 and Governance: Crisis reveals
Keynote 2 with Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Professor of Global Studies and Sociology at University of California Santa Barbara US. Chair: Oscar Hemer
MaU Play – Keynote 2: Jan Nederveen Pieterse
Thursday 16 September
The connective work of everyday democratic repair
Keynote 3 with Carolyn Hendriks, Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy
Australian National University. Chair: Michael Strange, Malmö University
Mau Play – Keynote 3: Carolyn Hendriks
Populism and the pandemic
Paper panel 3 with Chair: Anders Hellström, Malmö
University.
Mau Play – Panel 3: Populism and the pandemic
Media distrust and vaccine hesitancy in the context of the covid-19 pandemic crisis: findings from a European panel survey
Keynote 4 with Anne Kaun, Media and Communication Studies, Södertörn University,
Sweden. Chair: Tina Askanius, Malmö University.
Mau Play – Keynote 4: Anne Kaun
Paper sessions
1. Distrust, fear and disinformation
Chair: Anders Hög Hansen, K3, Malmö University
- “I trust in no one!” Exploring vaccination hesitancy as everyday politics. Author: Mia-Marie Hammarlin, Lund University, Sweden
- Mis/Dis-Information and Webinars about Syria During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Author: Josepha Wessels, K3, Malmö University, Sweden
- Pandemocracy And The Politics Of Fear: Beyond The State Of Exception. Authors: Dan Degerman (Department of Philosophy University of Bristol), Matthew Johnson (Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University) and Matthew Flinders (Department of Politics and Sir Bernard Crick Centre University of Sheffield)
2. The pandemic’s role in reconfiguring power relations
Chair: Maria Brock, K3, Malmö University
- A Convivial Turn: Reimagining Democracy and Global Governance in the Post-Pandemic World. Author: Sungjoon Cho, Professor of Law, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
- The Democratic Paradox of the Israeli COVID-19 Regulations. Author: Sharon Yadin, University of Haifa, Israel
- Putin, Parade, Plebiscite, Pandemic: Legitimation strategies and dilemmas in Russia’s first year of Covid-19. Authors: Bo Petersson, Malmö University and Matthew Blackburn, Uppsala University
3. Populism and the pandemic
Chair: Anders Hellström, GPS, Malmö University
- Populism and COVID19: How Populist Governments (Mis)Handle the Pandemic. Authors: Michael Bayerlein, Kiel Institute for the World Economy; Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel; Vanessa A. Boesex, Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, University of Gothenburg; Scott Gates (Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), University of Oslo; Katrin Kaminy, Kiel Institute for the World Economy; Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Syed Mansoob Murshedk, Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity (CFCI), Coventry University
- Populist communication in pandemic times: How populist presidents in Latin America performed the COVID-19 crisis. Authors: Aline Burni, German Development Institute and Eduardo Ryo Tamaki, Federal University of Minas Gerais
- The political uses of the covid pandemic in the rise of Greek authoritarianism. Authors: Filippa Chatzistavrou and Konstantinos Papanikolaou (Department of Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Researchers, publications and projects
The REDEM platform brings together scholars from different disciplines across the Faculty of Culture and Society and invites colleagues from other faculties interested in using the platform as a vehicle for advancing their research.
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Staff
Caroline Adolfsson - Doctoral student
caroline.adolfsson@mau.se -
Staff
Tina Askanius - Associate Professor/Senior lecturer
tina.askanius@mau.se -
Staff
Pieter Bevelander - Professor
pieter.bevelander@mau.se -
Staff
Sarah Bodelson - Doctoral student
sarah.bodelson@mau.se -
Staff
Maria Brock - Postdoc
maria.brock@mau.se -
Staff
Erin Cory - Senior lecturer
erin.cory@mau.se -
MEStaff
Magnus Ericson - Senior lecturer
magnus.ericson@mau.se -
PHStaff
Patrik Hall - Professor
patrik.hall@mau.se -
Staff
Peter Hallberg - Associate Professor/Head of unit/Senior lecturer
peter.hallberg@mau.se -
Staff
Jess Haynie-Lavelle - Doctoral student
jess.haynie-lavelle@mau.se -
Staff
Oscar Hemer - Professor, within the arts
oscar.hemer@mau.se -
Staff
Derek Stanford Hutcheson - Professor
derek.hutcheson@mau.se -
AHStaff
Anders Høg Hansen - Associate Professor/Senior lecturer
anders.hog-hansen@mau.se -
AKStaff
Ane Kirkegaard - Senior lecturer
ane.kirkegaard@mau.se -
MKStaff
Michael Krona - Senior lecturer
michael.krona@mau.se -
Staff
Rebecka Lettevall - Pro-vice-chancellor/Professor
rebecka.lettevall@mau.se -
Staff
Jacob Lind - Postdoc
jacob.lind@mau.se -
Staff
Gunnhildur Lily Magnusdottir - Associate Professor/Head of department/Senior lecturer
gunnhildur.lily.magnusdottir@mau.se -
Staff
Malin Mc Glinn - Education officer
malin.mcglinn@mau.se -
Staff
Anders Melin - Associate Professor/Senior lecturer
anders.melin@mau.se -
Staff
Dennis Munetsi - Doctoral student
dennis.munetsi@mau.se -
Staff
Tom Nilsson - Senior lecturer
tom.nilsson@mau.se -
Staff
Peter Parker - Senior lecturer
peter.parker@mau.se -
Staff
Bo Petersson - Professor
bo.petersson@mau.se -
JPStaff
Jonna Pettersson - Senior lecturer
jonna.pettersson@mau.se -
Staff
Maja Povrzanovic Frykman - Professor
maja.frykman@mau.se -
Staff
Per-Markku Ristilammi - Professor
per-markku.ristilammi@mau.se -
Staff
Anna Seravalli - Associate Professor/Senior lecturer
anna.seravalli@mau.se -
ISStaff
Isobel Squire - Doctoral student
isobel.squire@mau.se -
Staff
Michael Strange - Associate Professor/Senior lecturer
michael.strange@mau.se -
Staff
Jason Tucker - Associate senior lecturer
jason.tucker@mau.se -
Staff
Rahel Weldeab Sebhatu - Doctoral student
rahel-weldeab.sebhatu@mau.se -
Staff
Josepha Wessels - Associate Professor/Senior lecturer
josepha.wessels@mau.se -
Staff
John H. S. Åberg - Senior lecturer
john.aberg@mau.se
Publications
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2022 | Conference paper
The Alternative Influence Network (AIN) of the Swedish far-right on YouTube: a network analysis
Tina Askanius, Julietta Stoencheva, Hernan Modani
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2022 | Book
Familj: en fiktion
Oscar Hemer
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2022 | Chapter in book
#MeToo 2.0 as a Critical Incident: Voices, Silencing, and Reckoning in Denmark and Sweden
Jannie Møller Hartley, Tina Askanius
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2022 | Article in journal
Time for Climate Action?: Political Actors’ Uses of Twitter to Focus Public Attention on the Climate Crisis During the 2019 Danish General Election
Julie Uldam, Tina Askanius
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2022 | Article in journal
Women in the Nordic Resistance Movement and their online media practices: Between internalised misogyny and ‘embedded feminism’
Tina Askanius
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2021 | Report
Report #1 PHED-commission on the future of healthcare post covid-19: social inequity makes us vulnerable to pandemics
Michael Strange, Hilda Gustafsson, Elisabeth Mangrio, Slobodan Zdravkovic
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2021 | Report
Rapport #1 PHED-kommissionen för framtiden för hälso-och sjukvård efter Covid-19: Ojämlikhet i samhället gör oss sårbara för pandemier
Michael Strange, Hilda Gustafsson, Elisabeth Mangrio, Slobodan Zdravkovic
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2021 | Article in journal
(Service) Design and organizational change: balancing with translation objects
Anna Seravalli, Hope Witmer
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2021 | Book
Borgesiana
Oscar Hemer
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2021 | Article in journal
State Surveillance of Violent Extremism and Threats of White Supremacist Violence in Sweden
Amir Rostami, Tina Askanius
Research projects
Our research projects focus on: electoral politics; citizenship and the demos; local decision-making processes; social movements; civic engagement and everyday democracy; violent extremism and anti-democratic movements; journalism and democracy; participatory art; and new publics.
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Research project
Countering Oppositional Political Extremism through Attuned Dialogue: Track, Attune, Limit
tina.askanius@mau.se -
Research project
Swedish Riksdag 1867–2022: An Ecosystem of Linked Open Data
fredrik.noren@mau.se -
Research project
Imagining Sweden: “Sweden” as lodestar and punching bag for far-right movements in the US
tina.askanius@mau.se -
Research project
Nordic Fabulation Network
jason.tucker@mau.se -
Research project
Swedish Parliamentary Debates
fredrik.noren@mau.se -
Research project
Conviviality and Contamination
oscar.hemer@mau.se -
Research project
AI and the everyday political-economy of global health
jason.tucker@mau.se -
Research project
The child as cipher for a politics of ‘traditional values’ in the anti-gender movement: A comparative study of Russia and Germany
maria.brock@mau.se -
Research project
International Ideas at UNESCO: Digital Approaches to Global Conceptual History
fredrik.noren@mau.se -
Research project
Violent threats and internal security. Canadian-Swedish bilateral research collaboration on organized violent threats
tina.askanius@mau.se -
Research project
PHED - Precision Health and Everyday Democracy
michael.strange@mau.se -
Research project
Welfare State Analytics: Text Mining and Modeling Swedish Politics, Media & C ulture, 1945-1989 (WeStAc)
fredrik.noren@mau.se -
Research project
Digital radicalization and analogue extremism? A comparative analysis of violent extremism in the takfiri and extreme-right movements
tina.askanius@mau.se