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Erik Hysing

Position: Professor School/office: School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences

Email: ZXJpay5oeXNpbmc7b3J1LnNl

Phone: No number available

Room: F2212

Research subject

Political Science

Research environments

Center for Environmental and Sustainability Social Science (CESSS)

About Erik Hysing

Erik Hysing is Professor of Political Science. His academic work has mainly focused on policy change, governance, and public administration within the field of sustainable development and environmental politics.

In various projects he has studied public policy change and the design of policy instruments, especially related to environmental issues, as well as how policies and instruments get acceptance and legitimacy. He has also taken an interest in new modes of governing (governance), including collaborative governance and networking between public and private actors. Erik has also researched the power, personal commitments, and political importance of individual public officials for environmental- and sustainability issues in local governments. He is also interested in how to understand and promote large-scale societal change (sustainability transformation). His research mainly focus on Sweden and span across many different policy areas, including forestry, transports, chemicals, urban planning and biodiversity.

Erik is currently doing research within four research projects.

One project focuses on urban planners’ trust in citizens and its effect on citizen participation. Sustainable urban planning depends on citizen support and participation, which may be hindered by a lack of trust. Taking its departure in ‘trust begets trust’, this project studies planner’s trust in citizens, how it effects public participation, and how trust-building can take place in practice.

Another project focuses on chemical governance with a special focus on PFAS in food packages. In this multi-disciplinary project, policy measures taken by public and private actors to phase-out hazardous chemicals while developing capacity for recycling and reuse are analysed, drawing insights from chemistry, business administration, and political science.

A third project focuses on the integration of traffic safety as part of sustainable mobility initiatives. Local governments increasingly engage in projects to promote walking, cycling and public transport. In collaboration with researcher at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI), the project investigates how environmental sustainability and traffic safety are integrated in policy-and implementation processes and what synergies and conflicts there are between the two objectives.

A fourth project focuses on water challenges in sustainable planning. WATCH is a multi-disciplinary research school established to understand and find solutions to various water challenges facing sustainable urban planning. Here, Erik is supervising Friederike Küchler’s PhD thesis on resistance to local climate adaptation measures.

Erik is engaged in the Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Social Science (CESSS), a research centre established to facilitate multi-disciplinary collaborations and strengthen social science research and education on environmental and sustainability issues. He also teaches on various courses in political science, public administration, and urban planning and currently supervises four PhD candidates: Alessandra Paiusco (climate refugees), Anna-Lisa Fransson (Baltic Sea pipelines), Friederike Küchler (local climate change adaptation), and Frida Öhman at Uppsala University (landscape governance)

Read more about Eriks research here: Presentation of new professors at Örebro University 2024–2025.

Active projects

Completed projects

Research groups

Transformative Learning for Sustainable Development

Publications

Articles in journals

Du Rietz Dahlström, S. , Hysing, E. , Eriksson, U. & Ericson Jogsten, I. (2025). Corporate Accountability for PFAS Chemicals: The Translation of Private Rules in the Swedish Food Packaging Supply Chain. Business & society. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Du Rietz, S. (2024). Unofficial intermediation in the regulatory governance of hazardous chemicals. Regulation and Governance, 18 (4), 1118-1131. [BibTeX]
Coffey, B. , Damiens, F. L. P. , Hysing, E. & Torabi, N. (2023). Assessing biodiversity policy designs in Australia, France and Sweden: Comparative lessons for transformative governance of biodiversity?. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 25 (3), 287-300. [BibTeX]
Gustafsson, K. M. & Hysing, E. (2023). IPBES as a transformative agent: opportunities and risks. Environmental Conservation, 50 (1), 7-11. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2022). Designing collaborative governance that is fit for purpose: theorising policy support and voluntary action for road safety in Sweden. Journal of Public Policy, 42 (2), 201-223. [BibTeX]
Åström, J. , Olsson, J. & Hysing, E. (2022). Does Policy Influence Hollow Out Public Managers’ Political Neutrality?. Administration & Society, 54 (6), 1019-1044. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2021). Challenges and opportunities for the Ecosystem Services approach: Evaluating experiences of implementation in Sweden. Ecosystem Services, 52. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Lidskog, R. (2021). Do Conceptual Innovations Facilitate Transformative Change? The Case of Biodiversity Governance. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2021). Responsibilization: The case of road safety governance. Regulation and Governance, 15 (2), 356-369. [BibTeX]
Hall, P. & Hysing, E. (2019). Advancing voluntary chemical governance?: The case of the Swedish textile industry dialogue. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 62 (6), 1001-1018. [BibTeX]
Olsson, J. & Hysing, E. (2019). Aktivism bland offentliga tjänstemän. Fronesis (62-63), 123-132. [BibTeX]
Boström, M. , Andersson, E. , Berg, M. , Gustafsson, K. M. , Gustavsson, E. , Hysing, E. , Lidskog, R. , Löfmarck, E. & et al. (2018). Conditions for Transformative Learning for Sustainable Development: A Theoretical Review and Approach. Sustainability, 10 (12). [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Lidskog, R. (2018). Policy Contestation over the Ecosystem Services Approach in Sweden. Society & Natural Resources, 31 (4), 393-408. [BibTeX]
Hansla, A. , Hysing, E. , Nilsson, A. & Martinsson, J. (2017). Explaining voting behavior in the Gothenburg congestion tax referendum. Transport Policy, 53, 98-106. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. , Olsson, J. & Dahl, V. (2016). A radical public administration?: green radicalism and policy influence among local environmental officials in Sweden. Environmental Politics, 25 (3), 535-552. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Lundberg, E. (2016). Making governance networks more democratic: lessons from the Swedish governmental commissions. Critical Policy Studies, 10 (1), 21-38. [BibTeX]
Lundberg, E. & Hysing, E. (2016). The Value of Participation: Exploring the Role of Public Consultations from the Vantage Point of Interest Groups. Scandinavian Political Studies, 39 (1), 1-21. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Isaksson, K. (2015). Building acceptance for congestion charges: the Swedish experiences compared. Journal of Transport Geography, 49, 52-60. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2015). Citizen participation or representative government: building legitimacy for the Gothenburg congestion tax. Transport Policy, 39, 1-8. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. , Frändberg, L. & Vilhelmson, B. (2015). Compromising sustainable mobility?: the case of the Gothenburg congestion tax. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 58 (6), 1058-1075. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2014). A Green Star Fading?: A Critical Assessment of Swedish Environmental Policy Change. Environmental Policy and Governance, 24 (4), 262-274. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2014). How Public Officials Gain Policy Influence – Lessons from Local Government in Sweden. International Journal of Public Administration, 37 (2), 129-139. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2013). Representative democracy, empowered experts, and citizen participation: visions of green governing. Environmental Politics, 22 (6), 955-974. [BibTeX]
Olsson, J. & Hysing, E. (2012). Theorizing inside activism: understanding policymaking and policy change from below. Planning Theory & Practice, 13 (2), 257-273. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Olsson, J. (2011). Who greens the northern light?: green inside activists in local environmental governing in Sweden. Environment and Planning. C, Government and Policy, 29 (4), 693-708. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2009). From government to governance?: a comparison of environmental governing in Swedish forestry and transport. Governance. An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions, 22 (4), 647-672. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2009). Governing without government?: the private governance of forest certification in Sweden. Public Administration, 87 (2), 312-326. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2009). Greening transport: explaining urban transport policy change. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 11 (3), 243-261. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Olsson, J. (2008). Contextualising the advocacy coalition framework: theorising change in Swedish forest policy. Environmental Politics, 17 (5), 730-748. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Olsson, J. (2005). Sustainability through good advice?: assessing the governance of Swedish forest biodiversity. Environmental Politics, 14 (4), 510-526. [BibTeX]

Articles, book reviews

Hysing, E. (2011). Transnational environmental governance: the emergence and effects of the certification of forests and fisheries by Lars H. Gulbrandsen (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar). Environment and Planning. C, Government and Policy, 29 (3), 567-568. [BibTeX]

Books

Olsson, J. , Berg, M. , Hysing, E. , Kristianssen, A. & Petersén, A. (2019). Policy i teori och praktik. Lund: Studentlitteratur AB. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Olsson, J. (2017). Green inside activism for sustainable development: political agency and institutional change.. Palgrave Macmillan. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Olsson, J. (2012). Tjänstemän i politiken (1ed.). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB. [BibTeX]

Chapters in books

Olsson, J. & Hysing, E. (2019). Inside activism: political agency and institutional change. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2018). Government engagement with political consumerism. In: Boström, Magnus; Micheletti, Michele; Oosterveer, Peter, The Oxford Handbook of Political Consumerism. . Oxford University Press. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2015). Lost in transition?: the Green State in governance for sustainable development. In: Karin Backstrand and Annica Kronsell, Rethinking the Green State: environmental governance towards climate and sustainability transitions. . Routledge. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. & Olsson, J. (2011). Kommunal politisk styrning i förändring: governance, policyförändring och hållbar utveckling. In: Andreas Ivarsson, Nordisk kommunforskning: en forskningsöversikt med 113 projekt (pp. 257-260). Göteborg: Förvaltningshögskolan, Göteborgs universitet. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. (2009). Statslös samhällsstyrning?: governance i svensk skogspolitik. In: Gun Hedlund, Stig Montin, Governance på svenska (pp. 107-128). Stockholm: Santérus Academic Press Sweden. [BibTeX]
Hysing, E. , Olsson, J. , Angelstam, P. & Törnblom, J. (2005). Mer död ved i skogen: är skogsbrukets attityder och beteende ett problem?. In: Johnny de Jong, Malin Almstedt Jansson, Död ved i levande skogar: hur mycket behövs och hur kan målet nås? (pp. 87-110). Stockholm: Naturvårdsverket. [BibTeX]

Doctoral theses, comprehensive summaries

Hysing, E. (2010). Governing towards sustainability: environmental governance and policy change in Swedish forestry and transport. (Doctoral dissertation). (Comprehensive summary) Örebro: Örebro universitet. [BibTeX]