For three years, three researchers and two research assistants have surveyed and interviewed a group of people who are remarkably invisible in research. it's remarkable since it is a category of peopl (in Swedish).

This project examines so called "policy professionals", people who are employed in order to affect policy and politics. What is the impact of them, rather than elected officials, gaining more influence over politics?

Working Paper 2016 no.1(Published in Journal of Professions and Organization, Vol 4 (1):55-69 (2017). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jpo/jow008) This paper focuses on “policy professionals”, i.e. people whinfluence the course of affairs, while their working-life satisfaction comes from getting their message into the media without becoming personally exposed. The key resource of policy professionals is context-dependent politically useful knowledge, in three main forms: “Problem formulation” involves highlighting and framing social problems and their possible solutions. “Process expertise” consists of understandingthe “where, how and why” of the political and policy-making processes. “Information access” is the skill to be very fast in finding reliable and relevant information. These motivations and skills underpin a particular professionalism based in an “entrepreneurial ethos”, which differs from both the ethos of elected politicians, and that of civil servants, and which has some potentially problematic implications for democratic governance.

What are the implications of policy professionals gaining more and more influence over the political agenda, rather than elected officials? This project examines how these policy professionals, who are employed rather than elected to office, view their work.

Edward Elgar Publishing This ground-breaking book investigates the work of policy professionals. They consist of political actors who, although not elected to office, are nonetheless employed to affect

Working paper 2019 nr 12. This paper analyses career paths and career considerations among policy professionals in Sweden. It builds on a longitudinal data set in which the professionals’ careers are m

“Out of the Golden Cage: PR and the career opportunities of policy professionals”, Politics & Policy Vol 44 (1), 2016, pp 56-73. This paper focuses on a specific category of political actors – “pol

"Knowing the Game: Motivations and Skills Among Partisan Policy Professionals", Journal of professions and organizations, Advance Access published September 21, 2016, doi: 10.1093/jpo/jow008 Abstract This

Venue: Institute for Futures Studies, Holländargatan 13 in Stockholm or online Research seminar with Christina Garsten, Principal of SCAS and Professor of Social Anthropology at Stockholm and Uppsala Un

Frontiers in Sociology, sec. Migration and Society Abstract Despite the commitment of the Swedish government to ensuring equal access to Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights services for all citizens,