{"title":"Governance and planning in a ‘perfect storm’: Securitising climate change, migration and Covid-19 in Sweden","authors":"Ingemar Elander , Mikael Granberg , Stig Montin","doi":"10.1016/j.progress.2021.100634","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The article describes and reflects upon how multi-level governance and planning in Sweden have been affected by and reacted upon three pending major challenges confronting humanity, namely climate change, migration and the Covid-19 pandemic. These ‘crises’ are broadly considered ‘existential threats’ in need of ‘securitisation’. Causes and adequate reactions are contested, and there are no given solutions how to securitise the perceived threats, neither one by one, no less together. Government securitisation strategies are challenged by counter-securitisation demands, and plaguing vulnerable groups in society by in-securitising predicaments. Taking Sweden as an example the article applies an analytical approach drawing upon strands of securitisation, governance and planning theory. Targeting policy responses to the three perceived crises the intricate relations between government levels, responsibilities, capacities, and actions are scrutinized, including a focus upon the role of planning. Overriding research questions are: How has the governance and planning system – central, regional and local governments - in Sweden responded to the challenges of climate change, migration and Covid-19? What threats were identified? What solutions were proposed? What consequences could be traced? What prospects wait around the corner? Comparing crucial aspects of the crises’ anatomies the article adds to the understanding of the way multilevel, cross-sectional, hybrid governance and planning respond to concurrent crises, thereby also offering clues for action in other geopolitical contexts. The article mainly draws upon recent and ongoing research on manifestations of three cases in the Swedish context. Applying a pragmatic, methodological approach combining elements of securitisation, governance and planning theories with Carol Lee Bacchi’s ‘What is the problem represented to be’ and a touch of interpretive/narrative theory, the study reveals distinct differences between the anatomies of the three crises and their handling. Urgency, extension, state of knowledge/epistemology, governance and planning make different imprints on crises management. Sweden’s long-term climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies imply slow, micro-steps forward based on a combination of social-liberal, ‘circular’ and a touch of ‘green growth’ economies. Migration policy displays a Janus face, on the one hand largely respecting the UN refugee quota system on the other hand applying a detailed regulatory framework causing severe insecurity especially for minor refugees wanting to stay and make their living in Sweden. The Covid-19 outbreak revealed a lack of foresight and eroded/fragmented responsibility causing huge stress upon personnel in elderly and health care and appalling death rates among elderly patients, although governance and planning slowly adapted through securitising policies, leading to potential de-securitisation of the issue. The three crises have caused a security wake-up among governments at all levels and the public in general, and the article concludes by discussing whether this ‘perfect storm’ of crises will result in a farewell to neoliberalism – towards a neo-regulatory state facing further challenges and crises for governance, planning and the role of planners. The tentative prospect rather indicates a mixture of context-dependent ‘hybrid governance’, thus also underlining the crucial role of planners’ role as ‘chameleons’ in complicated governance processes of politics, policy and planning.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47399,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Planning","volume":"164 ","pages":"Article 100634"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9535694/pdf/","citationCount":"14","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Progress in Planning","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900621001264","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 14
Abstract
The article describes and reflects upon how multi-level governance and planning in Sweden have been affected by and reacted upon three pending major challenges confronting humanity, namely climate change, migration and the Covid-19 pandemic. These ‘crises’ are broadly considered ‘existential threats’ in need of ‘securitisation’. Causes and adequate reactions are contested, and there are no given solutions how to securitise the perceived threats, neither one by one, no less together. Government securitisation strategies are challenged by counter-securitisation demands, and plaguing vulnerable groups in society by in-securitising predicaments. Taking Sweden as an example the article applies an analytical approach drawing upon strands of securitisation, governance and planning theory. Targeting policy responses to the three perceived crises the intricate relations between government levels, responsibilities, capacities, and actions are scrutinized, including a focus upon the role of planning. Overriding research questions are: How has the governance and planning system – central, regional and local governments - in Sweden responded to the challenges of climate change, migration and Covid-19? What threats were identified? What solutions were proposed? What consequences could be traced? What prospects wait around the corner? Comparing crucial aspects of the crises’ anatomies the article adds to the understanding of the way multilevel, cross-sectional, hybrid governance and planning respond to concurrent crises, thereby also offering clues for action in other geopolitical contexts. The article mainly draws upon recent and ongoing research on manifestations of three cases in the Swedish context. Applying a pragmatic, methodological approach combining elements of securitisation, governance and planning theories with Carol Lee Bacchi’s ‘What is the problem represented to be’ and a touch of interpretive/narrative theory, the study reveals distinct differences between the anatomies of the three crises and their handling. Urgency, extension, state of knowledge/epistemology, governance and planning make different imprints on crises management. Sweden’s long-term climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies imply slow, micro-steps forward based on a combination of social-liberal, ‘circular’ and a touch of ‘green growth’ economies. Migration policy displays a Janus face, on the one hand largely respecting the UN refugee quota system on the other hand applying a detailed regulatory framework causing severe insecurity especially for minor refugees wanting to stay and make their living in Sweden. The Covid-19 outbreak revealed a lack of foresight and eroded/fragmented responsibility causing huge stress upon personnel in elderly and health care and appalling death rates among elderly patients, although governance and planning slowly adapted through securitising policies, leading to potential de-securitisation of the issue. The three crises have caused a security wake-up among governments at all levels and the public in general, and the article concludes by discussing whether this ‘perfect storm’ of crises will result in a farewell to neoliberalism – towards a neo-regulatory state facing further challenges and crises for governance, planning and the role of planners. The tentative prospect rather indicates a mixture of context-dependent ‘hybrid governance’, thus also underlining the crucial role of planners’ role as ‘chameleons’ in complicated governance processes of politics, policy and planning.
本文描述并反思了瑞典的多层次治理和规划如何受到气候变化、移民和Covid-19大流行这三大人类面临的重大挑战的影响并作出反应。这些“危机”被广泛认为是需要“证券化”的“生存威胁”。原因和适当的反应是有争议的,没有既定的解决方案如何将所感知到的威胁证券化,既不是一个一个地证券化,也不是一起证券化。政府的证券化策略受到反证券化需求的挑战,而非证券化困境则困扰着社会弱势群体。本文以瑞典为例,运用证券化、治理和规划理论的分析方法。针对这三种危机的政策反应,仔细审查了政府层面、责任、能力和行动之间的复杂关系,包括对规划作用的关注。最重要的研究问题是:瑞典的中央、地区和地方政府的治理和规划系统如何应对气候变化、移民和Covid-19的挑战?确定了哪些威胁?提出了什么解决方案?可以追踪到什么后果?什么前景等待着我们?通过比较危机剖析的关键方面,本文增加了对多层、横截面、混合治理和规划应对并行危机的方式的理解,从而也为其他地缘政治背景下的行动提供了线索。这篇文章主要借鉴了最近和正在进行的关于瑞典背景下三个案例表现的研究。运用实用主义、方法论的方法,结合证券化、治理和规划理论的要素,结合卡罗尔·李·巴奇(Carol Lee Bacchi)的“问题代表是什么”,以及一点解释/叙事理论,该研究揭示了三次危机的解剖结构及其处理方式之间的明显差异。紧迫性、延伸性、知识状态/认识论、治理和规划对危机管理有着不同的影响。瑞典的长期气候变化减缓和适应战略意味着在社会自由主义、“循环”和“绿色增长”经济相结合的基础上,缓慢而微小地向前迈进。移民政策表现出两面性,一方面很大程度上尊重联合国难民配额制度,另一方面应用详细的监管框架,造成严重的不安全,特别是对想要留在瑞典谋生的未成年难民。2019冠状病毒病的爆发表明,缺乏远见和责任被侵蚀/分散,给老年人和医疗保健人员造成了巨大压力,老年患者的死亡率令人震惊,尽管治理和规划通过证券化政策缓慢调整,导致该问题可能非证券化。这三次危机在各级政府和公众中引起了安全觉醒,文章最后讨论了这场危机的“完美风暴”是否会导致对新自由主义的告别-走向一个面临治理,规划和计划者角色进一步挑战和危机的新监管国家。这一尝试性的前景表明了一种依赖于环境的“混合治理”的混合,因此也强调了规划者在政治、政策和规划的复杂治理过程中扮演的“变色龙”角色的关键作用。
期刊介绍:
Progress in Planning is a multidisciplinary journal of research monographs offering a convenient and rapid outlet for extended papers in the field of spatial and environmental planning. Each issue comprises a single monograph of between 25,000 and 35,000 words. The journal is fully peer reviewed, has a global readership, and has been in publication since 1972.