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Aksel Sundström
Senior Lecturer
Department of Political ScienceAbout Aksel Sundström
Aksel Sundström is an associate professor (docent) and senior lecturer.
He was a Democracy Fellow at Harvard University 2017-2018 and a visiting researcher at the University of Oxford, the spring 2022.
Sundström is responsible for developing the Quality of Government (QoG) Institute datasets and overseeing the work of the QoG data team, an open data platform on corruption and other societal indicators.
He was recently awarded an ERC Starting Grant, which will fund the project Female Leaders and African Droughts (Fem-LEAD).
Sundström has two major research interests; 1) the study of environmental politics, especially in low-income countries, and 2) the study of political representation, focusing on the absence of women and youth in political institutions.
Within the larger theme of environmental politics, Sundström examines a host of issues: He works with several projects funded by the Swedish Research Council that study different political dimensions of protected nature reserves in African countries. Besides a focus on comparative politics, he has wide experience of field research work in South Africa and neighboring countries. His dissertation studied the problem of corruption and local bribery among officials in natural resource governance (example of articles in Global Environmental Change and Public Administration). He is currently advancing research on how environmental shocks affect public opinion and political behavior.
Within the theme of political representation, Sundström studies a number of knowledge gaps. In several outputs, he has developed the insights on how to measure and understand processes around women's political presence and rights across the world. Together with colleagues in the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project, he has launched the 'Women's Political Empowerment Index', a set of data that is free for the public to download and use (see also Sundström et al. 2017). For an example of work on public support for female leaders across Africa, see article in Public Opinion Quarterly.
He has published the book Youth without Representation, which examines the low presence of young adults as candidates and politicians around the world (University of Michigan Press). The book (written with Daniel Stockemer) is the first to tackle this problem and, as it has been selected for an open access initiative, it is free to download.
His research has been published in a range of outlets, including; Electoral Studies, European Journal of Political Research, Governance, Party Politics and World Development (see Google Scholar).
Sundström supervises several PhD-candidates (one recently defended). He was until recently in charge of the political science track within the Programme in Environmental Social Science (SMIL) at the School of Business, Economics and Law.
For a full list of publications, see CV.
Example of recently published articles:
Sundström, A. (forthcoming) “Environmental disasters and ecomodernist beliefs: Insights from a quasi-natural experiment”, Policy Studies Journal.
Ahlerup, P., A. Sundström, S. Jagers and M. Sjöstedt (2024) “Climate Shocks, Regional Favoritism and Trust in Leaders: Insights from Droughts in Africa”, World Development, 183.
Selection of work in progress:
“The Impact from Corruption on Climate Change Mitigation” with N. Harring, S. Jagers and M. Povitkina (QoG Working Paper 2024:3). Under review.
“The Ethnic Politics of Nature Protection: Ethnic Favoritism and Protected Areas in Africa” with S. Dawson, F. Haass (Oslo) and C. Müller-Crepon (LSE) (QoG Working Paper 2024:4). Under review.
“When Elders Rule: Age Composition in Decision-Making and Legitimacy Perceptions” with C. McClean (Yale) and D. Stockemer (Ottawa) (QoG Working paper 2024:6). Under review.
“Accountability and ownership of resources: an experiment in Peru” with M. Alvarado, T. Ahmed and S. Jagers. In preparation.
“Global public opinion to expanding protected areas to 2030: conjoint experiments on attitudes to goal conflicts in conservation” with P. Michaelsen and S. Jagers. In preparation.
For more information, see personal webpage: www.akselsundstrom.com
Education
PhD, Political Science, University of Gothenburg, 2015.
Visiting scholar at the University of Michigan, Spring 2015.
Courses during PhD-program at universities in Oxford, Michigan (the ICPSR programme), Keele, Ljubljana and Vienna.
Spent one undergraduate semester at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Recognitions
Winner of the First-time Voter Award 2023, with D. Stockemer, for work on youth inclusion in electoral affairs in 2022 (the book Youth Without Representation and the WARP Dataset), awarded by the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies.
ERC Starting Grant, 2023.
Nominated by University of Gothenburg to the 2019 Pro Futura program – Riksbankens Jubileumsfond’s effort to promote cutting-edge research in humanities and social sciences.
Shared third-prize in the essay competetion Intergenerational Justice Prize 2018 (with Daniel Stockemer).
Nominated to Elsevier's Atlas award for article in World Development (Sundström et al. 2017), August 2017.
Young sustainability talent 2016, a recognition given to 33 persons in Sweden by the magazine Aktuell Hållbarhet.
The 2016 Eva Selin Lindgren memorial scholarship (given annualy to one researcher at Chalmers or GU).
Received the "best paper" prize at the Swedish Political Science Association’s meeting 2014.
Other
Work experience as a journalist, foreign affairs reporting (example here).
-
Sexual forms of corruption and sextortion: how to expand research in a sensitive
area
Aksel Sundström, Lena Wängnerud
Handbook on Gender and Corruption in Democracies. Edited by Tiffany D. Barnes, Professor, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin and Emily Beaulieu, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Kentucky, US , 78-92 - 2024 -
Environmental disasters and ecomodernist beliefs: Insights from a quasi-natural
experiment
Aksel Sundström
POLICY STUDIES JOURNAL - 2024 -
When Elders Rule: Age Composition in Decision-Making and Legitimacy
Perceptions
Aksel Sundström, Charles McClean, Daniel Stockemer
2024 -
Climate Shocks, Regional Favoritism and Trust in Leaders: Insights from Droughts in
Africa
Pelle Ahlerup, Aksel Sundström, Sverker C. Jagers, Martin Sjöstedt
World Development - 2024 -
Do young legislators face age-based discrimination in parliament? Views from young MPs across the
globe
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Journal of Youth Studies - 2024 -
Young adults' under-representation in elections to the U.S. House of
Representatives
Daniel Stockemer, Hanna Thompson, Aksel Sundström
Electoral Studies - 2023 -
Age Inequalities in Political Representation: A Review
Article
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Government and Opposition - 2023 -
The gender gap in voter turnout: An artefact of men’s overreporting in survey
research?
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
British Journal of Politics & International Relations - 2023 -
Drought and Political
Trust
Pelle Ahlerup, Aksel Sundström, Sverker C. Jagers, Martin Sjöstedt
2023 -
Responding to Reviewers: Guidelines and
Advice
Aksel Sundström
Politics & Gender - 2023 -
Measuring support for women’s political leadership: Gender of interviewer effects among African survey
respondents
Aksel Sundström, Daniel Stockemer
Public Opinion Quarterly - 2022 -
Introducing the Worldwide Age Representation in Parliaments (WARP) data
set
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Social Science Quarterly - 2022 -
Governance through community policing: What makes citizens report poaching of wildlife to state
officials?
Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström, Sverker C. Jagers, H. Ntuli
World Development - 2022 -
Youth without Representation: The Absence of Young Adults in Parliaments, Cabinets, and
Candidacies
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
2022 -
Political Party Characteristics and Women’s Representation: The Case of the European
Parliament
Aksel Sundström, Daniel Stockemer
Representation - 2022 -
Understanding the drivers of subsistence poaching in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area: What matters for community wildlife
conservation?
Herbert Ntuli, Aksel Sundström, Martin Sjöstedt, Edwin Muchapondwa, Sverker C. Jagers, Amanda Linell
Ecology and Society - 2021 -
Quotas, the electoral system type and the election of young
women
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - 2021 -
Boys’ club or good ol’ boys club? Corruption and the parliamentary representation of young and old men and
women
Daniel Stockemer, Michael Wigginton, Aksel Sundström
Parliamentary Affairs - 2021 -
Conceptualizing, measuring and explaining youths’ relative absence in
legislatures
Aksel Sundström, Daniel Stockemer
PS, Political Science & Politics - 2021 -
The Quality of Government Expert Survey 2020 (Wave III):
Report
Marina Nistotskaya, Stefan Dahlberg, Carl Dahlström, Aksel Sundström, Sofia Axelsson, Cem Mert Dalli, Natalia Alvarado Pachon
2021 -
The Quality of Government Expert Survey 2020 Dataset: Wave
III
Marina Nistotskaya, Stefan Dahlberg, Carl Dahlström, Aksel Sundström, Sofia Axelsson, Cem Mert Dalli, Natalia Alvarado Pachon
2021 -
Making sense of sexual forms of corruption and sextortion: A research
agenda
-
Rule by the elderly: the absence of youth in cabinets of France, Germany and the
UK
D. Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
French Politics - 2021 -
Trust, corruption, and compliance with regulations: Attitudes to rule violations in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier
Park
Sverker C. Jagers, Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström, Amanda Linell, H. Ntuli
Social Science Quarterly - 2021 -
Governance through community policing: What makes citizens report poaching of wildlife to state
officials?
Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström, Sverker C. Jagers, Herbert Ntuli
2021 -
Measuring support for women's political leadership: Social desirability and gendered interviewer effects gendered interviewer effects among African
respondents
Aksel Sundström, Daniel Stockemer
2020 -
Gender differences in poaching attitudes: Insights from communities in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe living near the great
Limpopo
Aksel Sundström, Amanda Linell, Herbert Ntuli, Martin Sjöstedt, Meredith Gore
Conservation Letters - 2020 -
Young deputies in the European Parliament: A starkly underrepresented age
group
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Acta Politica - 2019 -
Exploring performance-related pay as an anticorruption
tool
Aksel Sundström
Studies in comparative international development - 2019 -
Governing transboundary commons in Africa: the emergence and challenges of the Kavango–Zambezi
Treaty
Amanda Linell, Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - 2019 -
Do young female candidates face double barriers or an outgroup advantage? The case of the European
Parliament
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
European Journal of Political Research - 2019 -
Corruption and women in cabinets: Informal barriers to recruitment in the
executive
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Governance - 2019 -
Women’s representation across different generations: A longitudinal analysis of the European
Parliament
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Journal of Common Market Studies - 2019 -
Why do people pay bribes? A survey experiment with resource
users
Aksel Sundström
Social Science Quarterly - 2019 -
Women in cabinets: The role of party ideology and government
turnover
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Party Politics - 2018 -
Age representation in parliaments: Can institutions pave way for the
young?
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
European Political Science Review - 2018 -
Youth representation in the European Parliament: The limited effect of political party
characteristics
Aksel Sundström, Daniel Stockemer
Intergenerational Justice Review - 2018 -
Gender aspects of government
auditing.
Mattias Agerberg, Maria Gustavson, Aksel Sundström, Lena Wängnerud
Gender and corruption. Historical roots and new avenues for research. - 2018 -
Organizing the audit society: Does good auditing generate less public sector
corruption?
Maria Gustavson, Aksel Sundström
Administration & Society - 2018 -
Jämställdhet på lokal nivå? En analys av andelen lokalt valda kvinnor inom EU:s
medlemsstater
Aksel Sundström
2018 -
Women's Empowerment at the Local
Level
Aksel Sundström, Lena Wängnerud
Alexander A. C., Bolzendahl C. & Jalalzai F. (eds) Measuring Women's Political Empowerment across the Globe : strategies, challenges and future research - 2018 -
Donor coordination or donor confusion? How disputed facts and problem framing affect the prospects for aid
harmonization
Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
Development Policy Review - 2017 -
Women’s Rights in Democratic Transitions: A Global Sequence Analysis
1900–2012
Yi-Ting Wang, Patrik Lindenfors, Aksel Sundström, Fredrik Jansson, Pamela Paxton, Staffan I Lindberg
European Journal of Political Research - 2017 -
Women’s political empowerment: A new global index,
1900-2012
Aksel Sundström, Pamela Paxton, Yi-Ting Wang, Staffan I Lindberg
World Development - 2017 -
Corruption and Organized Crime in
Conservation
Aksel Sundström, Tanya Wyatt
Gore M. L. (ed). Conservation Criminology - 2017 -
Corruption and violations of conservation rules: A survey experiment with resource
users
Aksel Sundström
World Development - 2016 -
Corruption as an obstacle to women’s political representation: Evidence from local councils in 18 European
countries
Aksel Sundström, Lena Wängnerud
Party Politics - 2016 -
Violence and the costs of honesty: Rethinking bureaucrats’ choice to take
bribes
Aksel Sundström
Public Administration - 2016 -
Women and Nuclear Energy: Examining the Gender Divide in Opposition to Nuclear Power among Swedish Citizens and
Politicians
Aksel Sundström, Aaron McCright
Energy Research & Social Science - 2016 -
Understanding illegality and corruption in forest
governance
Aksel Sundström
Journal of Environmental Management - 2016 -
Paradise Islands? Island States and the provision of environmental
goods
Sverker C. Jagers, Marina Povitkina, Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
Sustainability - 2016 -
Våldsamma hot och priset för ärlighet: En omvärdering av tjänstemäns val att ta
mutor
Aksel Sundström
2016 -
Can institutions pave the way for the young? Electoral systems and age representation in
parliament
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
2016 -
Modernization theory: How to measure and operationalize it when gauging variation in women's
representation
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Social Indicators Research - 2016 -
Understanding illegality and corruption in forest management: A literature
review
Aksel Sundström
2016 -
Coping with illegal fishing: An institutional account of success and failure in Namibia and South
Africa
Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
Biological Conservation - 2015 -
Women’s Political Empowerment Index: A New Global Index,
1900-2012
Aksel Sundström, Pamela Paxton, Yi-Ting Wang, Staffan I Lindberg
2015 -
No Democratic Transition Without Women's Rights: A Global Sequence Analysis
1900-2012
Yi-Ting Wang, Patrik Lindenfors, Aksel Sundström, Fredrik Jansson, Staffan I Lindberg
2015 -
Corruption in Governance of the Commons: Consequences and Reform
Challanges
Aksel Sundström
2015 -
What determines women’s political representation at the local level? A fine-grained analysis of the European
regions
Aksel Sundström, Daniel Stockemer
International Journal of Comparative Sociology - 2015 -
Regional environmental performance and governance quality: A non-parametric
analysis
George Halkos, Aksel Sundström, Nickolaos Tzeremes
Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - 2015 -
No Democratic Transition Without Women’s Rights: A Global Sequence Analysis
1900-2012
Yi-Ting Wang, Patrik Lindenfors, Aksel Sundström, Fredrik Jansson, Staffan I Lindberg
2015 -
Voter turnout in the European regions: The impact of corruption
perceptions
Aksel Sundström, Daniel Stockemer
Electoral Studies - 2015 -
Corruption and violations of conservation rules: A survey experiment with resource
users
Aksel Sundström
2015 -
Covenants with broken swords: Corruption and law enforcement in governance of the
commons
Aksel Sundström
Global Environmental Change - 2015 -
Democracy, development and the marine environment - A global time-series
investigation
Marina Povitkina, Sverker C. Jagers, Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
Ocean & Coastal Management - 2015 -
Violence and the costs of honesty: Rethinking bureaucrats’ choice to take
bribes
Aksel Sundström
2015 -
Gender Differences in Environmental Concern among Swedish Citizens and
Politicians
Aksel Sundström, Aaron McCright
Environmental Politics - 2014 -
Covenants with broken swords: Corruption and law enforcement in governance of the
commons
Aksel Sundström
2014 -
Not to be used during fire: Performance-related pay for civil servants as an anticorruption
tool
Aksel Sundström
2014 -
Examining Gender Differences in Environmental Concern in the Swedish General Public
1990-2011
Aaron McCright, Aksel Sundström
International Journal of Sociology - 2014 -
Women’s local political representation within 30 European countries: A comparative dataset on regional
figures
Aksel Sundström
2013 -
Corruption in the commons: Why bribery hampers enforcement of environmental regulations in South African
fisheries
Aksel Sundström
International Journal of the Commons - 2013 -
Corruption and citizens’ satisfaction with democracy in Europe: What is the empirical
linkage?
Daniel Stockemer, Aksel Sundström
Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft (ZfVP) / Comparative Governance and Politics - 2013 -
Overfishing in Southern Africa: A Comparative Account of Regime Effectiveness and National
Capacities
Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis - 2013 -
Coherence or confusion? reflections on two emerging perspectives on fisheries
development
Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
Presenterad vid internt seminarium, centre for environmental political studies. - 2013 -
Environmental performance and quality of governance: A non-parametric analysis of the NUTS 1-regions in France, Germany and the
UK
George Halkos, Aksel Sundström, Nickolaos Tzeremes
2013 -
Examining Gender Differences in Environmental Concern across Four Levels of the Swedish
Polity
Aksel Sundström, Aaron McCright
2013 -
Women’s Representation in the European Regions: The impact from Corruption and Bad
Governance
-
Quality of government affect voter turnout in the European
regions
Aksel Sundström, Daniel Stockemer
2013 -
Democracy and economic development: Investigating the effects on the marine
environment
Marina Povitkina, Sverker C. Jagers, Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
2013 -
Paradise Islands? Island States and the provision of environmental
goods
Sverker C. Jagers, Marina Povitkina, Martin Sjöstedt, Aksel Sundström
2013 -
Overfishing in Southern Africa: A Comparative Account of Regime Effectiveness and National
Capacities
Aksel Sundström, Martin Sjöstedt
presentation vid Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis workshop for special issue, University of Sydney, juni 2012 - 2012 -
Corruption in the commons: Why bribery hampers enforcement of environmental regulations in South African
fisheries
Aksel Sundström
2012 -
Are women the greener sex? Gender gaps in pro-environmental attitudes among Swedish citizens and
politicians
Aksel Sundström
presentation vid (Val Opinion och Demokrati) VOD-seminarium - 2012 -
Corruption and regulatory compliance: Experimental findings from South African small-scale
fisheries
Aksel Sundström
Marine Policy - 2012 -
Corruption, compliance and poaching: How corruptibility of the enforcing authority corrodes regulatory compliance among South African small-scale
fishermen
Aksel Sundström
7th WIOMSA Scientific Symposium, Mombasa, Kenya, 27 oktober 2011 - 2011 -
Corruption, compliance and poaching: How corruptibility of the enforcing authority corrodes regulatory compliance among South African small-scale
fishermen
Aksel Sundström
10th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference, Stockholms Universitet, 15 juni 2011 - 2011 -
Towards an understanding of gendered networks and corruption: The distinction between processes during recruitment and
representation
Aksel Sundström
workshop on the Anthropology of Corruption, University of Cork, Irland, 12 februari 2011 - 2011 -
Towards an understanding of gendered networks and corruption: The distinction between processes during recruitment and
representation
Aksel Sundström
the Workshop on Gender and Politics, Women and Politics Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association, London, 26 februari 2011 - 2011 -
Towards an understanding of gendered networks and corruption: The distinction between processes during recruitment and
representation
Aksel Sundström
2011 -
Vem är villig att betala mer för grön
el?”
Aksel Sundström, Johan Martinsson, Lennart J Lundqvist
Sören Holmberg, Lennart Weibull, Henrik Oscarsson (red) Lycksalighetens Ö - 2011 -
Energy Saving in Swedish Households – The (Relative) Importance of Environmental
Attitudes.
Johan Martinsson, Lennart J Lundqvist, Aksel Sundström
Energy Policy - 2011 -
Hushållen, boendet och energin: Beteenden, attityder och energipolitiska
möjligheter
Lennart J Lundqvist, Johan Martinsson, Aksel Sundström
2010