Mikael Granberg

I am professor and senior researcher at the Centre for Societal Risk Research. I am a Senior Research Fellow and deputy chair of the board of the Centre for Natural Hazards and Disaster Science (CNDS) at Uppsala University. CNDS is a national platform for research on the nexus between socio-technical vulnerability and extreme events of natural origins, e.g. storms, floods, landslides, droughts, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis.

I am also affiliated research fellow at The Climate Change Adaptation Lab, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia. The lab take a collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and reflexive approach to understanding the complex, more-than-climatic character of impacts, as they intersect in our daily lives.

I defended my PhD thesis in Political Science at Örebro University in 2004 and became associate professor at the same university in 2010. Since 2016 I am professor in Political Science at Karlstad University.

The main focus of my research is political processes. This means that the empirical scope of my research is wide encompassing the development of the welfare state, globalization and ideological shifts and, primarily, how these macro trends impact politics on national, regional and local levels. These issues are often theoretically informed by a neo-institutional perspective highlighting issues of power and democracy.

The area that I have focused on mostly during recent years is the challenges from global climate change and how these challenges are handled by society. A special interest here is if and how institutionalized political practices and norms facilitates or hinders collective action. This latter interest has entailed an increased interest in political theoretical perspectives and a critical scrutiny of the role of politics and ideologies (neo-liberalism) in climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

On-going research 

I am a researcher, together with Mikael Karlsson (PI), Uppsala University, Daniel Linnvall, Uppsala University, and Kirsti Jylhä, Institute for Future Studies, in the three-year Formas-funded project "Wicked problems governance". The project studies complex and society-threatening problems (wicked problems). We study climate change and the covid-19 pandemic and compare how these two crises have been handled by society. Our main questions are what can we learn from the differences and similarities in decision-making between these crises? What has the interaction between researchers, political decision-makers and the public looked like? How can crisis management be improved? We will approach these questions through conversations with a range of actors within authorities, politics and the media, as well as through attitude surveys and discussions with groups of citizens.

During 2023-2024 I will be responsible for the Swedish case study (one of 35 case studies) in the global research program "Governing green transitions" (GoGreen: https://gogreen-project.com) led by Jacob Torfing (RUC Roskilde), Eva Sørensen (RUC Roskilde) and Chris Ansell (UC Berkeley). The research program is financed by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. The basic thesis is that we can develop lots of technical solutions to reduce CO2 emissions and limit negative environmental impact but if municipalities, private companies and citizens are not involved in the green agenda, we will not succeed. Key questions are 1) How do  public, private and third sector actors work together to achieve the green sustainability goals (SDGs)? 2) What are the constellations of governing factors  driving co-creation? These questions will be studied through an updated version of Kiser-Ostrom's institutional analysis and development framework.

Recent publications

(in English only. For my publications in Swedish, look at the Swedish version of this webpage)

I am, together with Ioannis Rigkos author of article "Exploring democracy in the anthropocene: The case of practices of collective care" (2024). You can read more about the article here. 

I am, together with Leigh Glover, author of the book Climate Change as Societal Risk: Revealing Threats, Reshaping Values (2023). You can find information about the book here.

I am, together with Evangelia Petridou, Jörgen Sparf, Per Becker and Beatrice Onn the author of the open access article "Pandemic responses at the subnational level: Exploring politics, administration, and politicization in Swedish municipalities" (2022). You can read the article here.

I am, together with Ingemar Elander och Stig Montin, author of the open access article "Governance and planning in a ‘perfect storm’: Securitising climate change, migration and Covid-19 in Sweden" (2022) in the journal Progress in Planning. You can read the article here. 

I am, together with Anthony Greenfield and Susie Moloney, the author of the open access article "Climate emergencies in Australian local governments: from symbolic act to disrupting the status quo?" (2022). You can read the article here.

I am, together with David Olsson and Andreas Öjehag-Pettersson, author of the open access article "Building a Sustainable Society: Construction, Public Procurement Policy and ‘Best Practice’ in the European Union" (2021) published in the journal Sustainability. You can read the article here.

I am, together with Leigh Glover, author of the open access article "The politics of maladaptation" (2021) published in the journal Climate. You can read the article here.

I am, together with Ann-Catrin Kristianssen, author of the open access article "Transforming local climate adaptation organization: Barriers and progress in 13 Swedish municipalities" (2021) published in the journal Climate. You can read the article here.

I am, together with Leigh Glover, author of the open access article "The climate just city" (2021) published in the journal Sustainability. You can read the article here.

I am a co-author of the open access article "Covid-19 and Sweden’s exceptionalism—a spotlight on the cracks in the social fabric of a mature welfare state" (2021) published in the journal Public Money & Management. You can read the article here.

I am, together with Erik Persson, author of the open access article "Implementation through collaborative crisis management and contingency planning: the case of dam failure in Sweden" (2020) published in the Journal of Risk Research. You can read the article here.

New book (2020) with Leigh Glover, The Politics of Adapting to Climate Change. You find more information about the book here.

I am a co-author on the open access article "Sustainable development and cross-disciplinary research education: Challenges and opportunities for learning" (2020) published in the journal Högre Utbildning.You can read the article here.

I supervise doctoral and master students and teach courses on all educational levels.

I collaborate with external actors and often speak at various events aimed at actors in the private and public sector about aspects of climate policy. I am a memeber of the steering group for Karlstad Municipality's "Climate Neutral Karlstad" and in the innovation team for Karlstad Municipality's climate transition.

I am, together with Leigh Glover, author of the book Climate Change as Societal Risk: Revealing Threats, Reshaping Values (2023). You find more information about the book here.

Abstract:

This book analyzes climate change from a societal risk perspective, considering IPCC data, harm reduction, and global impact. Climate change is a globalised agent of social disruption whose impacts will worsen societal inequities and inequalities around the world. For some unfortunate societies already precariously exposed, climate change will tip them into societal collapse. Devastation will also occur to many ecological values in which all societies are embedded. But effective social action can limit the extent of these costs and losses. Ultimately, only social transformation can limit the social and environmental harms of climate change. But what does this mean? To what extent is society at risk? Are such risks particularized and restricted to specific segments and localities? Or is society at risk in a more universal way? Climate risks are re-shaping the practices of households, communities, governments and businesses. In this way, climate risks are a dynamic element in social change and social processes. Risk holds a mirror to society, revealing who and what is prioritized, recognized and valued. It also provides a reckoning of our perceived strengths, vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This volume examines how we understand the societal risks of contemporary and forecast climate change impacts—and those risks inherent in dealing with these impacts. We know that society is fashioning a new global climate—but climate change is also re-fashioning society; this book explores this dynamic process and considers its implications for future society.