Skip to main content

Subversive Action in Context

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Subversion in Institutional Change and Stability
  • 279 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter discusses what contexts tend to give rise to subversive action. The main conclusion is that subversion is a fairly common phenomenon ‘under the surface’ in the daily life of public organizations: on different levels of organization, in different policy areas, and among various policy actors. However, we can expect subversive actions to be particularly likely and important in institutional contexts where value dilemmas and conflicts are sharp and difficult to handle and in those instances we can also expect subversive action from the outside of organizations. In cases with difficult value dilemmas and conflicts, subversive action will likely continue over time, while in other cases where strong value conflicts are temporary, we can expect subversive actions to decline more or less.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aftonbladet, 2012-03-08, Jag offrades för Saudarabien-affären.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aftonbladet, 2012-09-24, Fick femhundralappar i plastkasse.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodin, B.-G., & Öhman, D. (2014). Saudivapen. Hycklande politiker, ljugande tjänstemän och hemliga spioner—En politisk thriller om svensk vapenhandel. Stockholm: Albert Bonnier förlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bosua, R., Milton, S., Dreyfus, S., & Lederman, R. (2014). Going public: Researching external whistleblowing in a new media age. In A. J. Brown, D. Lewis, R. Moberly, & W. Vandekerckhove (Eds.), International handbook on whistleblowing research. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, G. (2014). Hacker, hoaxer, whistleblower, spy. The many faces of anonymous. London and New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dagens industri, Di-debatt, 2015-06-25: Absolut exportstopp vid grava demokratibrister.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald, G. (2014). No place to hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. surveillance state. New York: Metropolitan Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hupe, P., Hill, M., & Buffat, A. (Eds.). (2015). Understanding street-level bureaucracy. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurrelmann, K. (2009). Social structure and personality development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman, C. R. (2002). Ideas, institutions, and political order: Explaining political change. American Political Science Review, 96(4), 697–712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipsky, M. (1980). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipsky, M. (2010). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowndes, V., & Roberts, M. (2013). Why institutions matter: The new institutionalism in political science. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney, J., & Thelen, K. (Eds.). (2010). Explaining institutional change: Ambiguity, agency and power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1989). Rediscovering institutions. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1995). Democratic governance. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1996). Institutional perspectives on political institutions. Governance, 9, 247–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Margetts, H. Z., & Hood, C. (2010). Paradoxes of modernization: Unintended consequences of public policy reform. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J. (1992). Cultures in organizations. Three perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J. (2002). Organizational culture: Mapping the terrain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J., & Siehl, C. (1983). Organizational culture and counterculture. An uneasy symbiosis. Organizational Dynamics, (Autumn), pp. 52–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyerson, D., & Martin, J. (1987). Cultural change: An integration of three different views. Journal of Management Studies, 24, 623–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Musheno, M., & Maynard-Moody, S. (2015). ‘Playing the rules’: Discretion in social and policy context. In P. Hupe, M. Hill, & A. Buffat (Eds.), Understanding street-level bureaucracy. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Leary, R. (2014). The ethics of dissent: Managing guerrilla government (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Olsson, J., & Hysing, E. (2012). Theorizing inside activism: Understanding policymaking and policy change from below. Planning Theory & Practice, 13(2), 257–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, G. B. (2011). Institutional theory in political science: The “new institutionalism”. London and New York: Pinter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J. (1981). Power in organizations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J. (1994). Managing with power: Politics and influence in organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, C. (Ed.). (2013). Context in public policy and management. The missing link? Cheltenman: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2011). Public management reform—A comparative analysis: New public management, governance, and the neo-Weberian state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao, H., & Giorgi, S. (2006). Code breaking: How entrepreneurs exploit cultural logics to generate institutional change. Research in Organizational Behavior, 27, 279–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabatier, P. A., & Weible, C. M. (2007). The advocacy coalition framework, innovations and clarifications. In P. A. Sabatier (Ed.), Theories of the policy process (2nd ed., pp. 189–220). Boulder, CO, and Oxford: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sears, D., & Brown, C. (2013). Childhood and adult political development. In L. Huddy, D. Sears, & J. Levy (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of political psychology (pp. 59–95). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • SOU 2015:72, Skärpt exportkontroll av krigsmateriel. Slutbetänkande av Krigsmaterielexportöversynskommittén, KEX. Stockholm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streek, W., & Thelen, K. (2005). Introduction: Institutional change in advanced political economies. In W. Streek & K. Thelen (Eds.), Beyond continuity. Institutional change in advanced political economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sussman, B. (2010). The great cover up: Nixon and the scandal of Watergate (4th ed.). Maryland: Catapulter Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sveriges riksdag. Kommittédirektiv 2012:50, Översyn av exportkontrollen av krigsmateriel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tammers, L. (2013). Policy alienation and the power of professionals: Confronting new policies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Van Maanen, J., & Barley, S. R. (1984). Occupational communities: Culture and control in organizations. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (pp. 287–366). Greenwhich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter, S., & Nielsen, V. L. (2008). Implementering af politik [Implementation of public policy]. Århus: Academica.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Copyright information

© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Olsson, J. (2016). Subversive Action in Context. In: Subversion in Institutional Change and Stability . Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94922-9_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics