The Growth of the Profession 1960-1975: Sweden

University of Uppsala

Academic teaching in political science has a relatively long history in Sweden compared with the other Nordic countries. 'Statskunskap', as it is called in Swedish, emerged as an independent discipline in Uppsala in the middle of the 19th century and around the turn of the century at the universities in Lund and Gothenburg and in 1935 in Stockholm. New chairs in Political Science were founded at the new universities in Urnea and Linkoping in 1965 and 1975 respectively.¹

Until the 1950's political science was a minor academic subject at all levels of examination. There were no departments in the modern sense; the whole staff usually consisted of one full professor and one docent (assistant professor). At the end of the 1940'5, the first elements of a department organization were introduced: a few administrative assistants and teaching positions (without tenure) for the undergraduate level. But still the professor alone was responsible for all graduate education. Needless to say, the output of candidates for the two highest degrees, Licentiat and Doktor (roughly comparable to the American PhD and the old German doctor's degree) was very small. Between 1901 and 1950, only 47 persons graduated with the Licentiat degree in political science in the whole country, and the figure for the doctor's degree was 58.² The situation in other academic disciplines was similar to this pattern.

The low productivity of graduate education was not the only problem. There were also serious economic and social problems for the graduate students. Scholarships and state subsidies covering printing costs for dissertations were introduced as late as the end of the 1940'5. The average age of the doctors was nearly 40 years. The typical Swedish dissertation was a thick and solid volume which had the character of one man's life achievement. Widespread criticsm against this oldfashioned system led to a reform of graduate education and the doctor's degree. Inspired by the American PhD system, the reform was passed by the Riksdag in 1969 and had been carried through sucessively in the beginning of the 1970'5. The two old degrees were abolished and a new degree, called Doktorsexamen (PhD), was improved, and the size of the dissertation was cut down with the help of such measures as the rules for publishing subsidies.

The effects of the reform have not been systematically evaluated; however, we can already see some positive results in political science. The output of dissertations has increased considerably, partly as a result of the reform; this aspect will be discussed later. The new doctors are about ten years younger and the dissertations are much shorter than before the reform. Qualitative standards have been maintained at an acceptable level, partly through the new system of methodological courses and intensified research guidance. New categories of teachers have been engaged in instruction and guidance work; the single professor is no longer solely responsible for all graduate education. By and large, the reform of 1969 has created some positive conditions for the future development of political science research in Sweden, although much remains to be done - particularly concerning the construction of positions in the academic career after the PhD.

The 1960's was the decade of grand reforms at all levels of education in Sweden. The undergraduate level at the universities was affected in many ways; these reforms have important indirect consequences for graduate education, and therefore something must be said about them. In order to meet the increase in the number of students in the 'open' faculties (natural science, humanities and social science) with sufficient teaching resources, an administrative system of 'automatic' allocation of positions in correspondence to the influx of students was created around 1960. At the same time, a new category of teachers, the university lecturer, was introduced. New branches outside the old universities and a whole new university (the fifth, in Umeå) were founded in the middle of the 1960'5. In 1969, a reform of the curriculum system was decided, according to which undergraduate studies at the open faculties should be better planned and better adapted to the needs of the labour market than the old system of 'free' studies.

The curriculum reform weakened the position of political science in relation to other social science subjects. This effect was partly due to the fact that a new, cross-disciplinary social science subject was created for the education of school teachers, whereas political science had dominated in the traditional education of teachers in the social sciences. Together with a general decline in the number of

students at the beginning of the 1970'5, the reform of 1969 led to a drastic reduction
of the student population and a slight reduction of the teaching staff in political
science. The fluctuations in student numbers are illustrated in Table I.

The table shows that student numbers peaked in 1967, when the total figure was more than ten times higher than in 1975. The same drastic decrease took place at the level of second term studies, where student registrations dropped from a total of 1,037 in 1969 to 162 in 1975. Through this development the recruitment base of graduate studies was eroded, which can also be demonstrated by registration figures for third term studies (usually the highest undergraduate level): a decline from a total of 254 in 1969 to 65 in 1975.³

During the period of rapid expansion of the student population a great number of teaching positions were established, thanks to the system of automatic allocation of teaching resources. Many of these positions were lectureships with tenure, but the bulk of the teaching load was carried by non-tenured junior teachers. It should be mentioned here that a Swedish university lecturer has a full-time teaching position; no research work is required from him. In the last few years, however, lecturers have been given some opportunity to take part in graduate education, mostly in the form of research guidance work. Of course some lecturers are doing research work of their own, but on the whole the category cannot be regarded as belonging to the research staff. This is something specific to Sweden; the system has no correspondence in the other Nordic countries - nor in any other modern countries for that matter.

The expansion of the teaching staff for undergraduate education was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in research positions, also typical of Swedish university policy. A few so-called associate professorships in political science were established in the middle of the 1960'5, but still the number of chairs is

much lower than in Denmark and Norway.⁴ The number of docent positions - a non-tenured position with appointment for only 6-9 years, although with possibilities for extension - has also been kept down. On the other hand a new category of so called research associates (jorskarassisteni) was introduced in the beginning of the 1960's and was expanded a little as a consequence of the reform of the doctor's degree. The typical research career after the PhD is now the following: research associate, docent, professor. The development of the research staff in political science is demonstrated by Table 11.

The gloomy picture of scarce resources becomes a little brighter, however, if we add to the ordinary staff two types of non-tenured positions. There is one category of research positions - mostly research associates - which has been created and financed by special research projects with external funding from the Research Council, the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Fund, etc. In this way many doctoral students and young doctors have been salaried during their full-time research work. As an example it ought to be mentioned that the large Local Government Project employed about 15 research associates at all universities during the most intensive period of project work at the end of the 1960'5. The other type is the part-time teaching position, such as 'extra' lecturer, assistant, amanuensis, etc., which gives their holders some time for research work. This category of positions is very important as a complementary source of research funding in addition to scholarships and full-time research positions. As an illustration the following figures from the Department of Political Science in Uppsala can be given: in 1960 there were 7 positions of this kind, in 1967 the number was also 7, and in 1975 it was 8. In 1974 about 20 persons in the whole country with licentiate or doctor's degrees or the new PhD occupied such positions.

Let us now turn to the results of graduate education in political science. We shall begin with the development of student numbers, which is illustrated in Table 111. The table demonstrates that student numbers have increased in a rather modest way. The enormous expansion of the undergraduate level in the middle of the 1960's was never followed by a corresponding increase at the graduate level. This is partly due to the fact that the recruitment base at the higher undergraduate levels was drastically reduced in the beginning of the 1970'5, as was demonstrated

above. However, the modest increase in the number of graduate students which is still going on would have been impossible without the great undergraduate expansion. Many students who started political science studies at the end of the 1960's are now working with their doctoral dissertations. This time lag probably explains more of the relatively high number of students at the graduate level today than the stimulating effects of the PhD reform in 1969.

As regards examinations, the PhD reform probably stimulated output in two ways. Those who had studied for the old degrees had to finish their dissertation work at the beginning of the 1970's before the expiration of the old system. The new PhD was off to a flying start with a high number of examinations in the period 1970-75, as is demonstrated by Table IV.

In order to give a picture of the areas of interest in dissertation work we shall now present a tentative classification of topics of dissertations. The table is based on a survey of all political scientists who graduated between 1950 and 1973. The figures should be taken with reservation because distinctions between the headings are often hard to draw. It should also be pointed out that only 81.4 percent of the population responded, which may partly explain that, for instance, election research has such a low figure. However, Table V gives some indications

of main trends of research in dissertation work, particularly when the old degrees
are compared with the new PhD.

The table indicates a shift of emphasis away from political theory and history of political ideas, and from constitutional history and public law in the dissertations of the old type, towards an increasing interest in public administration and political institutions in the new PhD dissertations. The same trend can be observed if the material is divided into time periods according to the time of examination: public administration, for instance, is advancing at the expense of political theory and constitutional history. International politics and international organizations did not attract much interest before 1965, but the area has been steadily advancing since then. Finally, it should be pointed out that the vanishing interest in political parties and interest organizations in the PhD dissertations before 1974 is a causal phenomenon; in 1974-75 several dissertations were presented within this field.

An important aspect of the results of graduate education in political science is the occupational career of the graduated political scientist. In what fields of the labour market did they find jobs? The aforementioned survey gives some basic information: 82 percent of those who answered in 1974 were employed in the public sector and only 14 percent in the private sector. The dominant fields of occupation are university teaching (34 %), school teaching (14 %) and public administration (33 %).⁷ These are the traditional fields for political scientists: the average percentages for comparable sectors of the labour market in the period 1890-1970 are 26, 31 and 27 respectively. After 1960, however, the university career has expanded considerably, whereas school teaching has decreased.⁸

This tendency is also illustrated in Table VI, particularly as regards the period
1970-73.

The figures reflect the great expansion of graduate examinations after 1960, and particularly after 1965. No less than 73 percent of those who have university employment have graduated in the period 1965-73; for school teaching and public administration the corresponding figures are 67 and 61 respectively. This means that most of the many new positions which were created during a period of rapid growth of the public sector are occupied by young people. There will be very few openings in the traditional fields of employment for political scientists who are

graduating in the future, so they will have to look for other occupations, such as
private industry jobs.

In Table VII we find the total survey population divided among various types
of occupations and examinations.

The table shows that only a few persons were occupied in fields other than teaching and public administration. In the latter field the distribution among the three types of examination is similar to the distribution in the total population. The doctor's degree is overrepresented in university teaching, and the licentiate degree is totally dominant in school teaching. A great majority of the doctors (both types) are occupied at universities or in public administration, whereas the licentiate category is more evenly divided among the three main fields. Some of the political scientists with licentiate degrees have reached high positions in public administration and interest organizations. According to the survey, 44 percent of all graduated political scientists working in the administrative sector have leading functions. This is good evidence of the usefulness of graduate studies in political science. It should be mentioned here that about 60 percent of those who have administrative occupations have conducted dissertation research within the fields of mass media, political opinion, public administration, and so on, and that about half the people who have studied one of these fields have such occupations. On the other hand, research in political theory and history of ideas is more frequent among political scientists who have university positions.⁹

Finally, something should be said about the professional organization of graduated political scientists in Sweden. Such an organization was formed in 1970 as a sort of national union of the old local university clubs. The name is Statsvetenskapliga forbundet, and the aims are the following: to represent the interests of the political science discipline vis-a-vis the state; produce external information about research and other activities (this is mainly done through the journal Politologen)', promote cooperation between the departments of political science, particularly concerning graduate teaching; and represent Swedish political science in contacts with IPSA and other international organizations, particularly in the Nordic area.¹⁰

Most of these aims have been successfully fulfilled. It should be pointed out that the Statsvetenskapliga Forbundet has nothing to do with the economic interests of the members; those interests are usually taken care of by professional unions, such as the University Teachers Union and other unions within the national top organization SACO.

Membership in the Statsvetenskapliga Forbundet is open to all graduated political scientists and for graduate students as well. The number of members has increased from 111 in 1971 to 162 in 1975. About 50 percent of the graduated members have occupations outside university departments. Such 'external' members are regarded as an important resource; they are represented on the governing board, and some of them take an active part in discussions on current political issues which are usually arranged in connection with the annual meetings.

NOTES

1. Uppsala has the oldest chair (in 'Latin Eloquence and Political Science') in the world,
founded in 1622. The chair in Linkoping is a personal professorship for the university
president, Hans Meijer.

2. Conny Blom and Birgitta Pikwer, 'Vem blev forskare och vad blev forskaren', Delrapport I

inom UKA-projektet Forskarutbildingens resultat 1890-1970, mimeo, 1976, p. 21.
3. Brewitz, op.cit. (see Table I source).

4. The term associate professor is somewhat misleading. Although the Swedish title is bitrddande
professor and the salary range is lower than for full professors, the position has
almost the same functions as full professor and is tenured.

5. One of the three research associates in Uppsala belongs to the Department of Peace Research,
but the holder of this position is docent in Political Science, and part of his teaching
is carried out at the Department of Political Science.

6. Brewitz's figures for the years 1960-1973 are basedon a survey of all graduated political scientists in 1974. The survey was answered by 81.4%, which means that the figures are too low. According to Blom and Pikwer, op.cit., p. 21, the total number of examinations in 1961-1970 was 94 for the licentiate degree and 30 for the doctor's degree. The figures for 1974 and 1975 are basedon reports from the political science departments in Politologen, official publication of the Political Science Association.

7. Brewitz, op.cit., p. 9. The category 'public administration' includes a few leading positions
in interest organizations.

8. Revised versions of Appendix Table 2in Blom and Pikwer, op.cit., p. 88. The share of the
university career increased from 17% in 1951-60 to 36% in 1961-70; the corresponding
figures for the school sector are 44% and 17%.

9. Brewitz, op.cit., pp. 12-13, 16.
10. Politologen, No. 1, 1971.