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Hagström, Linus, ProfessorORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0001-7495-055X
Alternative names
Publications (10 of 55) Show all publications
Hagström, L., Wagnsson, C. & Lundström, M. (2023). Logics of Othering: Sweden as Other in the time of COVID-19. Cooperation and Conflict, 58(3), 315-334
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Logics of Othering: Sweden as Other in the time of COVID-19
2023 (English)In: Cooperation and Conflict, ISSN 0010-8367, E-ISSN 1460-3691, Vol. 58, no 3, p. 315-334Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

‘Othering’ – the view or treatment of another person or group as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself – is a central concept in the International Relations literature on identity construction. It is often portrayed as a fairly singular and predominantly negative form of self/Other differentiation. During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden at first glance emerged as exactly such a negative Other. This article problematises such a view of Othering. Departing from a narrative analysis of news reporting on Sweden’s management of COVID-19 in the United States, Germany and the Nordic states, the article proposes an ideal type model with four forms of Othering – emotional, strategic, analytic and nuanced – not recognised in previous research. These types differ in their treatment of the Other as more or less significant and in involving a more or less self-reflexive construction of the self. Although narratives in all these settings drew on previously established narratives on Sweden, they followed different logics. This has implications for our understanding of Sweden as an Other in the time of COVID-19, as well as of self/Other relations in International Relations more broadly.

National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-11011 (URN)10.1177/00108367221110675 (DOI)
Funder
Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, 2018-90044
Available from: 2022-07-25 Created: 2022-07-25 Last updated: 2023-09-04Bibliographically approved
Gustafsson, K. & Hagström, L. (2023). The insecurity of doing research and the ‘so what question’ in political science: how to develop more compelling research problems by facing anxiety. European Political Science
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The insecurity of doing research and the ‘so what question’ in political science: how to develop more compelling research problems by facing anxiety
2023 (English)In: European Political Science, ISSN 1680-4333, E-ISSN 1682-0983, p. -15Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

Research problems are crucial in the sense that they provide new research with purpose and justification. So why, despite the abundance of guidance available from an extensive methods literature, do graduate students often struggle to develop compelling research problems? This article argues that the process of developing research problems epitomises the insecurity of doing research. We focus in particular on the anxiety that graduate students often seek to avoid or alleviate through a range of counterproductive coping strategies. The existing literature on research problems focuses predominantly on the technical aspects of doing research while neglecting how anxiety might affect the research process. This article seeks to rectify this shortcoming by providing advice on how graduate students can face such anxiety, and how professors can assist them in this endeavour. Drawing on theories about identity and anxiety, the article explains the allure of coping strategies such as gap-filling, while arguing that anxiety is not necessarily a negative emotion to be avoided at all costs, but integral to learning and creativity. It concludes by suggesting that compelling research problems can be constructed through the formulation of narratives that try to embrace anxiety, instead of seeking premature resolutions. 

Keywords
Anxiety, Emotion, Identity, Insecurity, Narrative, Research problem
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-11865 (URN)10.1057/s41304-023-00448-3 (DOI)
Available from: 2023-10-11 Created: 2023-10-11 Last updated: 2024-02-07
Hagström, L. & Bremberg, N. (2022). Aikido and world politics: a practice theory for transcending the security dilemma. European Journal of International Relations, 28(2), 263-286
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Aikido and world politics: a practice theory for transcending the security dilemma
2022 (English)In: European Journal of International Relations, ISSN 1354-0661, E-ISSN 1460-3713, Vol. 28, no 2, p. 263-286Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In the final analysis, is the security dilemma inescapable? Or can the protagonists in world politics learn to live with never-ending insecurities and the risk of attack without producing precisely the outcomes that they wish to avoid? This article explores this fundamental problem for International Relations theory by performing a thought experiment, in which it applies lessons from aikido to world politics. A form of Japanese budo, or martial art, aikido provides practitioners with a method for harbouring insecurities, and for dealing with attacks that may or may not occur, by empathically caring for actual and potential attackers. The article builds on practice theory in assuming that any social order is constructed and internalised through practices, but also capable of change through the introduction and dissemination of new practices. Although an unlikely scenario, aikido practice could serve as such a method of fundamental transformation if widely applied in world politics. Empirical examples ranging from international apologies and security cooperation to foreign aid and peacekeeping operations are discussed, suggesting that contemporary world politics is at times already performed in accordance with aikido principles, albeit only imperfectly and partially.

Keywords
aikido, care, empathy, identity, practice, security dilemma
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-10651 (URN)10.1177/13540661211070145 (DOI)000752699600001 ()
Funder
Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, MMW2013.0162
Available from: 2022-01-27 Created: 2022-01-27 Last updated: 2022-05-31Bibliographically approved
Hagström, L. (2022). CRISIS NARRATIVES, INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE JAPANESE STATE: Edited by Sebastian Maslow and Christian Wirth [Review]. Pacific Affairs, 95(4)
Open this publication in new window or tab >>CRISIS NARRATIVES, INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE JAPANESE STATE: Edited by Sebastian Maslow and Christian Wirth
2022 (English)In: Pacific Affairs, ISSN 0030-851X, Vol. 95, no 4Article, book review (Other academic) Published
National Category
Other Social Sciences
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-12055 (URN)
Available from: 2023-12-22 Created: 2023-12-22 Last updated: 2023-12-22Bibliographically approved
Hagström, L., Ha, T.-N. & Öberg, D. (2022). Everyday Perspectives on Security and Insecurity in Japan: A Survey of Three Women’s Organizations. Social Science Japan Journal, 25(1), 29-54
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Everyday Perspectives on Security and Insecurity in Japan: A Survey of Three Women’s Organizations
2022 (English)In: Social Science Japan Journal, ISSN 1369-1465, E-ISSN 1468-2680, Vol. 25, no 1, p. 29-54Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The existing research on Japanese security focuses mainly on the nation state and conceives of male elites as the key bearers of relevant knowledge about the phenomenon. This article problematizes these biases by zeroing in on women’s everyday-oriented perspectives, which fall outside the scope of security politics as traditionally conceived. More specifically, it analyzes the rich material provided by a survey of the members of three major Japanese women’s organizations, using a mixed-method approach premised on statistical methods and qualitative content analysis. The results show that the Japanese women in our sample accommodate and reproduce content from dominant elite views about security and insecurity. However, they also challenge and at times ignore these perspectives by identifying a host of other insecurities as more pressing in their daily lives, notably those related to environmental degradation and Japan’s political development.

Keywords
everyday IR, gender, feminist security studies, Japan, survey method
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Statsvetenskap med inriktning mot strategi och säkerhetspolitik
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-10348 (URN)10.1093/ssjj/jyab028 (DOI)000769815300003 ()
Funder
Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, MMW2013.0162
Available from: 2021-10-04 Created: 2021-10-04 Last updated: 2022-05-11Bibliographically approved
Öberg, D. & Hagström, L. (2022). Female Nationalist Activism in Japan: Truth-Telling Through Everyday Micro-Practices. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 47(4), 194-208
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Female Nationalist Activism in Japan: Truth-Telling Through Everyday Micro-Practices
2022 (English)In: Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, ISSN 0304-3754, E-ISSN 2163-3150, Vol. 47, no 4, p. 194-208Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

There is an emerging debate about the role and importance of women in right-wing nationalist movements. Drawing on research that highlights the need to study such women as active and complex political agents, this article examines a phenomenon that has previously received little attention—the activism of female Japanese nationalists. We approach the question of how such activism is practiced by analyzing a group interview with female nationalists, a nationalist manga centering on women’s experiences, and autobiographic books on such activism by and for Japanese women. The article contributes by arguing that female nationalist agency in Japan is a complex phenomenon, which is enacted through everyday micro-practices. It outlines how female nationalist activism draws upon and enhances, as well as challenges and transcends, a traditional Japanese “housewife identity.” As such, the female Japanese nationalist is imagined as having access to certain truths. She takes on the role of “truth-teller,” who is playing a strategic role in “waking people up” to the nationalist cause by voicing anger but also making space for a more “joyful,” “cute,” and inconspicuous everyday activism.

Keywords
apan, right-wing women, everyday activism, historical revisionism, micro-practices, nationalism, woke
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-11303 (URN)10.1177/03043754221126279 (DOI)
Available from: 2023-01-11 Created: 2023-01-11 Last updated: 2023-01-11Bibliographically approved
Hagström, L. (2022). Japan, the Ambiguous, and My Fragile, Complex and Evolving Self. Life Writing, 1-10
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Japan, the Ambiguous, and My Fragile, Complex and Evolving Self
2022 (English)In: Life Writing, ISSN 1448-4528, E-ISSN 1751-2964, p. 1-10Article in journal (Other academic) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This essay takes literature laureate Kenzaburo Oe’s Nobel lecture from 1994, Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself, as a point of departure for thinking about Japan, the ambiguous and how the already fragile and complex narrator that is I has evolved ambiguously over time in relation to a similarly ambiguous and changing imagination of Japan. Based on aikido practice—the narrator’s gateway to Japan—the essay ends up proposing a different understanding of and approach to ambiguity to Oe’s.

Keywords
Aikido, ambiguity, identity, Japan
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-11136 (URN)10.1080/14484528.2022.2139629 (DOI)
Available from: 2022-11-17 Created: 2022-11-17 Last updated: 2022-11-30
Ha, T.-N. & Hagström, L. (2022). Resentment, status dissatisfaction, and the emotional underpinnings of Japanese security policy. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Resentment, status dissatisfaction, and the emotional underpinnings of Japanese security policy
2022 (English)In: International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, ISSN 1470-482X, E-ISSN 1470-4838Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

What explains Japan’s security policy change in recent decades? Heeding the ‘emotional turn’ in International Relations, this article applies a resentment-based framework, which defines resentment as a long-lasting form of anger and the product of status dissatisfaction. Leveraging interviews with 18 conservative Japanese lawmakers and senior officials, the article discusses the role, function, and prevalence of resentment in the remaking of Japan’s security policy, premised on constitutional revision. The analysis reveals that conservative elites are acutely status-conscious; and that those who blame a perceived inferior status on Japan’s alleged pacifism are more likely to see revision of Article 9 as an end in itself. For a subset of conservatives, however, the goal is rather to stretch the Constitution to enhance Japan’s means of deterrence vis-à-vis objects of fear or in solidarity with allies. Overall, the article demonstrates that resentment provides a fruitful lens for analyzing status dissatisfaction in international politics. 

National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-11026 (URN)10.1093/irap/lcac006 (DOI)
Available from: 2022-08-08 Created: 2022-08-08 Last updated: 2022-08-19Bibliographically approved
Hagström, L. (2022). Sveriges väg mot Nato, kantad av identitetspolitik och bristfällig analys. Kosmopolis: Suomen rauhantutkimusyhdistys, 52(4), 87-95
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Sveriges väg mot Nato, kantad av identitetspolitik och bristfällig analys
2022 (Swedish)In: Kosmopolis: Suomen rauhantutkimusyhdistys, ISSN 2814-5070, Vol. 52, no 4, p. 87-95Article in journal (Other academic) Published
Keywords
Sverige, Nato, Identitet
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-11088 (URN)
Available from: 2022-10-03 Created: 2022-10-03 Last updated: 2022-12-15Bibliographically approved
Hagström, L. (2021). Becoming a traitor. Life Writing, 18(1), 135-143
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Becoming a traitor
2021 (English)In: Life Writing, ISSN 1448-4528, E-ISSN 1751-2964, Vol. 18, no 1, p. 135-143Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In this autobiographical essay, I narrate my experience of being positioned in public as naive in my profession and a traitor to my country after publishing an op-ed in Sweden’s largest daily newspaper, in which I argued that Sweden should not join NATO — the transatlantic military alliance. Some of the negative reactions came from within my own workplace. I had just been promoted to Professor at the Swedish Defence University and colleagues thought I had also betrayed them and the university by publishing the piece. In this essay, I disclose some of the reactions I encountered but, more importantly, I try to understand the effect they had on me, recounting my own inner dialogue of shame and resistance. At times I worried that I lacked expertise or even secretly harboured an affinity with the country that is now seen to motivate a Swedish NATO membership — i.e. Russia. At other times, I tried to turn the tables on the stigmatisers, claiming that it was they who had to change. While I work in a highly militarised environment, I think the fear of social death and professional shame I explore in this essay has broader resonance.

Keywords
resistance, security, shame, traitor
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Statsvetenskap med inriktning mot strategi och säkerhetspolitik
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-8712 (URN)10.1080/14484528.2019.1644986 (DOI)000481375200001 ()
Available from: 2019-08-16 Created: 2019-08-16 Last updated: 2021-09-23Bibliographically approved
Projects
The East Asian Peace Since 1979: How Deep? How Can It Be Explained? [M10-0100:1_RJ]; Uppsala University
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0001-7495-055X

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