Driven by increased exposure to climate change hazards and energy price reforms, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is keen to transform its energy-intensive building sector, with air-conditioning (AC) accounting for 70% of the energy used in buildings. While much past research has focused on technological solutions, this study investigates some of the critical AC usage patterns and energy conservation behavior in the Saudi residential sector. Harnessing a novel and original public survey with spatial granularity, this study explores socio-demographic, economic, and behavioral determinants of AC usage, thermostat preferences, and energy conservation attitudes. The study identifies household income and energy expenditure as among the more influential predictors of user behavior. Lower-income households are significantly less likely to use AC extensively, which may indicate potential equity and affordability concerns, while higher-income groups exhibit extended usage patterns, particularly year-round use and daily operation exceeding 18 h. Education, dwelling type, and ownership status are also influential factors, though with a modest effect. Regional differences, particularly in Makkah and Riyadh, reveal further contextual variations in behavior. AC switch-off and thermostat adjustment attitudes reflect a mix of economic constraints and habitual behavior. Drawing from these findings, the study underscores the need for integrated policy frameworks that combine efficiency measures with targeted behavioral interventions.

This article examines how the discursive logic of quasi-markets in Swedish university real-estate management enables depoliticisation while consolidating state control. Sweden is a distinctive case where universities are public agencies, yet most campus property is owned by Akademiska Hus AB, a profit-seeking corporation wholly owned by the state. Using interpretive policy and frame analysis of legislation, government decisions, and public debate, we trace how market rents were introduced and justified. We show that depoliticising narratives portraying academics as fiscally unaccountable and university space as wasteful legitimise New Public Management reforms. Extending the 'ghost in the machine' metaphor, we demonstrate how political logics permeate welfare governance but are rendered less visible. The quasi-market sustains centralised control and fuels distrust between universities and government, risking a cycle of expanding quasi-market instruments and reduced institutional autonomy. Diminished autonomy may in turn have implications for academic freedom.

Within the multi-level perspective (MLP) on sustainability transitions, there has been a rise in research on storylines and discursive framing that have become more central in understanding how competing narratives shape the trajectories of innovation. This paper examines how policy actors and stakeholders construct and frame competing scenario narratives of sustainable aviation futures. Using a scenario narrative framing approach, we analyze empirical data from focus groups and interviews with Swedish aviation sector actors. The findings reveal a discursive split: one set of narratives supports an active state fostering sustainable aviation through niche innovation (aligned with ecological modernism), while another advocates for limiting aviation altogether (reflecting green theory). These national narratives are contrasted by a multilateral, risk-averse discourse calling for international or EU-level decision-making processes. Our results highlight a deeper divide — scenario narratives are polarized and politicized, with transport mode innovations increasingly tied to political identities. Centre-right actors tend to support aviation innovation over rail, while green and Centre-left actors often argue the reverse. This politicization reflects broader discursive struggles, as seen in debates such as the proposed closure of Västerås regional airport and Bromma airport. This includes dissuading tourists who use aircrafts, excluding aviation from approaches to collective traffic and lacking integration in any public transport system. This leads to aviation being perceived neither as private nor collective transport in discourses and as ambivalent in policies.

Sweden aims for carbon neutrality by 2045, including a fossil-free transport sector. Radical innovations like civilian drones and eVTOLs offer potential for sustainable, electrified, and integrated transport, but integration is challenged by infrastructure, connectivity, regulation, and public concerns. This paper explores discursive policy leadership in governing drone innovation for sustainable transition, focusing on Sweden. Using a multi-level perspective and narrative discourse analysis, we conducted 18 expert interviews with national, regional, local, and private actors. We examine how drones are narrated within sustainable transport and how accounts reveal the presence or absence of niche leadership. Findings highlight four insights: (1) lack of public-sector leadership risks reinforcing division between private actors and regime lock-in; (2) ideological tensions frame drones as disruptive or conflictual; (3) fragmented responsibilities hindering policy coordination; and (4) new discursive models are needed to reflect complexity. We argue for active discursive policy leadership and inclusive governance to unlock drones’ transformative potential. 

Sweden became an outlier among the Nordic countries in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Nordic countries have historically shared a social democratic welfare state regime, with strong cooperation and harmonization of social policies, their responses to the pandemic showcased fundamental differences to that of Sweden. In particular, Sweden’s prioritization of individual civil liberties over social rights diverged from the more coercive approaches of Finland and Norway, which placed greater emphasis on public health and social welfare. This study examines the media framing surrounding the contrasting Swedish approach and highlights the dichotomy between statist individualism/autonomy and welfare paternalism/interdependence that has been an inherent part of the Swedish welfare state framing. Employing interpretive policy analysis, the study explores the media narratives used by policy actors to frame their pandemic response in terms of individual autonomy and governmental paternalism. We identified two contrasting perspectives on governance regarding the COVID-19 policy strategy. One framing perspective backed the strategy, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding individual autonomy and minimizing central control. The other viewpoint demanded a lockdown and criticized the Swedish response as too lenient. This deviated from usual Swedish political alignments and created a polarized and lively debate around the core values of individual autonomy, agency, and central governmental paternalism.

This paper aims to analyse how the European Union (EU) energy policy has merged social policy concepts with energy efficiency policy. Energy efficiency has increasingly become understood through social policy concepts such as energy poverty, energy inequality, and lack of cohesion. Previous research has shown how the social aspects of energy efficiency have been highlighted by the European Commission when talking about the multiple benefits of energy efficiency increasing efforts, such as renovating buildings. Using a mixed-method approach with material from the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament we review energy policy from a social policy perspective. Our analysis is done in two steps: (i) identifying which of the EU institutions acted as an agenda-setter introducing the social aspects of energy efficiency, and (ii) describing and analysing the framing process of merging social concepts with energy policy. We do this through qualitative and quantitative analysis of EU policy documents. A range of key words are utilized to explore the links between social policy and energy policy as part of the quantitative part of the analysis. We conclude that social aspects are first connected to the energy policy field by the European Parliament. The established connection is then reinforced by the Commission by the inclusion of social policy aspects, mainly in the policy on the transition to energy efficiency and zero-carbon buildings, where concepts such as energy poverty become central.

In this article, we put forward a conceptual map for understanding the role ecocentric narratives can play in future Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). By comparing Western and Indigenous scholars' narratives of river governance, we show how this makes two different ontological narratives of the river possible. By using liminality and the rite-of-passage narrative of the learning journey associated with it, and by understanding how different river governance narratives rely on different ontological scaffolding, policymakers can gain a better understanding of alternative approaches to river governance that synthesise Western and Indigenous insights. The paper makes two contributions. First, we extend the debate of integration beyond its current centre of gravity around an anthropocentric perspective to show how an ecocentric vantage point open new understandings of IWRM. Second, we consider the river as a stakeholder in its own right and explore how ecocentric narratives and knowledge can lead to an improved role for ecosystems and Indigenous stakeholder engagement in IWRM policy design and implementation. We look at the case of Whanganui River in New Zealand - a river that was granted legal personhood in 2017 - in order to reflect on the limitations and opportunities of implementing an ecocentric approach to IWRM in practice.

This chapter explores the extent to which mayors in Nordic municipalities value the role of civil society in pandemic management. We asked Nordic mayors because, as ombudsmen and representatives, they are a touchpoint for the local community. A general finding is that mayors consider the contributions of voluntary associations and businesses important for local crisis management. However, there are extensive variations in both types of civil society contributions and between countries. The contribution of civil society is perceived as significantly more important in Norwegian and Swedish municipalities than in Finnish, Danish, and Icelandic municipalities.

The Council is the voice of the member states' governments in the EU policymaking process and the institutional setting where member states can enforce their national interest. The literature on Council decision-making has previously mostly used expert interviews or voting patterns. Through a detailed examination of one specific legislative file in the recent 'Fit for 55' climate package in which subsidiarity and varying national conditions is central, this study focus on how disagreements between member states are resolved and how strategic word framing can aid in resolving political controversies in EU energy policy. This article analyses Council working group meeting notes and revisions of the recent recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, providing a unique look behind the curtains of negotiations between member states in the Council within a deliberative intergovernmental framework. A mix of quantitative and qualitative text analysis is applied to deliberations and legislative revisions. The findings show that a fragile consensus is reached despite disagreement through enabling of national flexibility in policy decisions, indicating that the Council determines the speed of European integration in the policy domain.