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 Hartmut Fünfgeld and Susie Moloney editor for an Edvard Elgar "Handbook on Local Government and Climate Change". The book is due for publication in 2027 so the work of commisioning chapter authors has jut started.

Edvard Elgar descibe their handbooks in the following way: "Our authoritative handbooks comprise specially commissioned, peer reviewed, original chapters offering comprehensive analyses of each topic. Our handbooks are unique in their research focus and, in many cases, the cross disciplinary nature of the topics. We publish handbooks in established fields and in emerging areas that outline current research and set out new research agendas for the future. A good mix of senior and emerging scholars allows for a lively debate between chapters and encourages aspirations to pave the way for future research."

Here is a short desciption of our handbook: Local governments play a crucial role in tackling climate change at local and regional levels. They have often pioneered climate action, joining international networks and driving strategies for emissions reduction in energy, mobility, and urban development. Beyond mitigation, they must also protect citizens from climate impacts like extreme weather, planning for resilience and adaptation. Limited resources make integrated approaches—such as nature-based solutions for greening, carbon storage, and cooling—especially valuable.

Together with higher levels of government, municipalities share responsibility for effective climate interventions. These are relatively new policy areas, shaped by political debates over goals, speed, and distribution of costs and benefits. Local governments must align vertically within multi-level governance and horizontally across departments, balancing risks of unequal burdens with opportunities to improve well-being and transform economies and infrastructures sustainably.

Climate politics at the local level are complex and often polarized, influenced by competing priorities such as economic growth and inter-municipal competition. Moreover, local governments differ widely in geography, governance, and resources, facing diverse hazards and capacities. Thus, there is no universal blueprint—contextual understanding is essential for analysing their roles and responsibilities in climate action.

The Handbook on Local Government and Climate Change will provide a scholarly overview of key topics, approaches, methods and challenges associated with local government policymaking, planning and action on climate change. A key aim of the book is to provide insights into current challenges of local government climate action as they have recently been discussed in academic discourses, and highlight solutions by referring to practice-based cases of local governments that have managed to engage effectively in climate change.