Louise Skoog

I hold a PhD in Public Administration from the University of Gothenburg, obtained in 2019. From 2019 to 2022, I worked as a researcher in Public Administration at the University of Gothenburg within the project Competitive Democracy in Swedish Local Government (Swedish Research Council). Between 2022 and 2023, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science. Since 2023, I have been an assistant professor in Political Science.

In 2024, I received the Umeå Municipality's Scientific Award.

Research Interests

My research interests include local politics, multi-level governance, location of public services, political conflicts, the relationship between urban and rural areas, and public meals.

Current Research

I am the principal investigator of the research project "The location challenge of public services – equal access to public services and democratic governance in the whole of Sweden" (funded by Formas, approximately 7 million SEK). This project examines how political decision-making and prioritizations concerning the location of public services in Swedish municipalities and regions are legitimized. The project leader is Louise Skoog, and the participating researchers are Jenny de Fine Licht and David Karlsson.

During 2023, a survey of members of local councils in Europe was conducted, and Sweden is one of the 26 countries included. For each participating country, a national research group is involved, and with colleagues in political science at Umeå University, I am participating in this project from 2023-2024. The survey aims to increase our understanding of the attitudes, conditions, and challenges of local council members that are similar and vary across European countries. The survey includes questions on working conditions, experiences of threats and hostility, and council members' perceptions of power and influence in local politics.

Teaching experience

• Research Methodology
• Democratic Theory and Welfare Models
• Local Politics and Administration
• Sweden's Political System
• New Public Management and Public Auditing
• Politics and Administration in Multi-level Systems
• Political Leadership
• Supervision at all levels

I have received two educational awards: the Faculty of Social Sciences' Teaching Award in 2018 (University of Gothenburg) and the Göta Student Union's Teaching Award in 2014 (University of Gothenburg).

Research Networks

I am part of the externally funded research networks:

• Team Nordic Shrinkage was initiated through funding from a government initiative to promote research in rural areas (Uppdrag Landsbygd). The interdisciplinary network brings together researchers interested in shrinking areas in northern Europe.
• The Network for Rural Issues and Crisis Preparedness brings together researchers who share an interest in how access to basic services and security can affect rural actors' ability to handle crises.
• The Network for Research on the Coordination and Integration of Regional Development Policy with Other Policy Areas is a network aimed at increasing knowledge about regional development policy and understanding policy coordination and its mechanisms throughout the political system.

Previous Research Projects

Local Food - For a Better Climate (2023) (200,000 SEK) (co-applicant). Food plays a vital role in tourism as locally produced food and local food traditions can serve as place marketing. Food supply is also a crucial issue in both resilience and crisis management, as times of crisis can easily disrupt the supply chains that today's food production and supply depend on. Our food also significantly impacts the climate, with perhaps as much as one-third of household climate impact coming from food. From a research perspective, however, the role of food in local politics and place development is relatively unexplored. The network brought together researchers from various disciplines with a common interest in local food policy.

Competitive democracy in Swedish local government - how parliamentary settings and marketization form local political conflicts (funded by the Swedish Research Council, approximately 2.8 million SEK) as a co-applicant and participating researcher. In this project, we study how local politicians and parties navigate the conflicting demands they face from, on the one hand, parliamentary settings and political competition and, on the other, marketization and competitive administration—project leader David Karlsson, participating researchers: Louise Skoog, Oskar Svärd, and Pierre Donatella.

Political conflicts - dissent and antagonism among political parties in local government (dissertation project). In my dissertation, I examined political conflicts at the local level. Political conflicts arise from, or at least are fueled by, divisions and tensions in society regarding how resources should be distributed among citizens and social groups. These conflicts manifest on the parliamentary stage through political parties representing their constituents' interests. Understanding how political conflicts are expressed and managed is thus crucial for understanding the political system. In my dissertation, titled "Political Conflicts - dissent and Antagonism among Political Parties in Local Government," I explored the nature, causes, and effects of political conflicts at the local level.