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Jenny Cisneros ÖrnbergDeputy Head of Department/Researcher/Lecturer

About me

Jenny Cisneros Örnberg is associate professor in political science and Deputy Head of Department. Jenny’s research interests include the intersection between domestic and European policy-making in the field of public health. The main focus is on Europeanization processes and the role of Sweden in the development of alcohol- and gambling policy on EU level. Jenny has in her research also included policy areas such as  tobacco and pharmaceuticals.

Jenny is PI for the research program REGAPS (Responding to and Reducing Gambling Problems Studies) with the purpose of increased knowledge and devloping strategies to decrease gambling problems.

 

Research projects

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • The Future Swedish Gambling Market

    2018. Jenny Cisneros Örnberg, Jörgen Hettne. Gambling Policies in European Welfare States, 197-216

    Chapter

    Swedish gambling regulation has been questioned from an EU law perspective. While no changes have yet taken place, a reform proposal has during 2017 been submitted and the Government has in April 2018 passed a bill to Parliament based on that proposal. The new Swedish Gambling Act shall be based on a licensing system: anyone who wants to act in the Swedish gambling market must have a designated licence. The proposal underlines that the negative consequences of gambling should be limited and that extensive consumer protection calls for curbs on marketing. This chapter will discuss different aspects of gambling regulation in Sweden, especially in the light of EU law. Particular attention will be paid to the legal scope for reform, differences in taxation including the position held by public interest non-profit organisations, marketing and consumer protection.

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  • Logics and mechanisms of board appointment in hybrid organizations

    2018. Susanna Alexius, Jenny Cisneros Örnberg, Giuseppe Grossi.

    Conference

    The relevance of the paper to the panel topic 

    The management and governance of hybrid organizations involve a range of challenges and critical issues. One such issue concerns the people that embody the hybrid and their capabilities to represent and handle the complex missions and potential value conflicts at stake in a hybrid organization. Looking closer at processes of recruitment and nomination of key actors such as CFOs, managers and board members is relevant as it sheds light on high held ideals for hybrid management and governance and the human resources seen fit to handle complex hybrid missions.

    The significance of the research (why it is distinctive and its contribution to the field)

    Our case gives a micro illustration of the governance challenges involved in attempts to design the nomination process to reflect a wider range of goals and values. We also wish to briefly discuss how this shift in appointment logics – from “political discretion” (PA), over “professionalism as in efficiency and economization” (NPM) to “political correctness” (NPG) may affect the boards and management of the SOEs.

    The research question(s) and method

    The Swedish state has an outspoken aim to be an “active and professional” owner by generating economic value in its 49 state-owned enterprises. At the same time, there is a political ambition for these firms to be seen as national and international “role models”, in the forefront of gender equality and sustainability. In addition, for about 25 SOEs, there are specifically Government commissioned social “public policy assignments” to be taken into consideration. The aim of this paper is to analyse the logics (political vs. professional) in the Swedish Government offices concerning the mechanisms of appointment of board members of Swedish State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) with Government commissioned social public policy assignments.

    Findings are based on qualitative analyses of documents, observations and interviews with key actors. Focusing foremost on the daily work of civil servants responsible for board nomination in the Ministry of Commerce and Innovation the study also acknowledges the role of external head hunters and executive search firms, politically appointed civil servants, politicians and board chairs and members in the nomination process.

    The theoretical/conceptual foundations for the research

    The backdrop to our case story is the historical transition from traditional Public Administration (PA), over new public management (NPM) regimes to the emerging post-NPM era of “New Public Governance” (Osborne, 2010; Almqvist et al., 2003; Ivarsson Westernberg, 2017), their dominant institutional logics and the effects on the appointment of public representatives, such as board members of SOEs.

    The results to be reported

    Our claim is that in the emerging NPG era, the previously dominating professional (and typically economical) logic of NPM-inspired governance of State-owned enterprises is challenged. Public appointment officials now face increasing external pressure to demonstrate that the multiple social values at stake for the hybrid organizations are reflected in the nomination of their board members, without compromising business efficiency, public accountability and the public income derived from SOEs.

    Read more about Logics and mechanisms of board appointment in hybrid organizations
  • Mission(s) impossible? Configuring values in the governance of state-owned enterprises

    2015. Susanna Alexius, Jenny Cisneros Örnberg. International Journal of Public Sector Management 28 (4-5), 286-306

    Article

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to theory of hybrid organizations, with particular regard to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and their ability to contribute to sustaining value pluralism in the public sector.

    Design/methodology/approach – The paper offers a qualitative case concerning ongoing performance management reforms in the corporate governance of SOEs in Sweden, which is analyzed using theory on valuation and evaluation.

    Findings – It is found that the number of non-financial values is reduced with reference to categorization. Attempts are made to change the perception of the potential value conflict at hand between financial and non-financial missions by adding a number of neutralizing “meta values” such as transparency and efficiency to the performance language in use. There is a risk of mission drift as a clear hierarchization of values, prioritizing financial values, is created and sustained in “investment teams.” Processes, standards and dialogues are all dominated by an economic logic despite formal aspirations to balance the values at stake. The few remaining non-financial values are translated into economic language aiming for a commensuration of the performance of the different missions. In addition, the ambition of the public policy assignment may be further reduced by de-coupling.

    Originality/value – The paper suggests a novel approach to hybrid organizations in general and SOEs in particular when exploring how the values underlying complex missions are configured in “value work” performed by government officials in Swedish government offices. Such analyses of value work in the micro-practice of hybrids offer a more fine-grained understanding of organizational dilemmas that are commonly acknowledged, but more seldom explained in empirical detail.

    Read more about Mission(s) impossible? Configuring values in the governance of state-owned enterprises
  • Gambling problems as a political framing

    2011. Jenny Cisneros Örnberg, Tuukka Tammi. Journal of Gambling Issues (26), 110-125

    Article

    ManyEUmember states are currently rethinking their gambling laws and policies to adapt toEuropean lawand to take into account increased technological possibilities for the gamblingindustry and increased competition on national gambling markets. Some of the countrieshave responded to the newsituation by giving up or remarkablyweakening theirmonopolies,but other countries have, on the contrary, reformed their monopoly systems to strengthenthem to meet the new challenges. This article analyses gambling policy reforms in Finlandand Sweden, where the liberalisation trend has been contested to safeguard the monopolysystems. The main means have been an increased focus on gambling-related problems andemphasis on the responsible nature and particular capability of monopoly-based systemsto tackle these problems. This has made it possible not only to keep the monopoly systemintact but also to expand its field of activities to the Internet as a responsible measure.

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  • The governance of addictions at the international level

    2014. Robin Room, Jenny Cisneros Örnberg. Reframing addictions, 46-58

    Chapter

    This chapter considers the governance of addictions in an international perspective, focusing on structures and actions at a global level and within the European Union (EU) in the fields of drugs, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, tobacco and gambling. Both at a global level and within the EU, there is great disparity between different addictive substances and behaviours in the extent of and priorities in international governance of markets and their customers. Nonmedical use of psychoactive substances under international drug control treaties is subject to a strict prohibitory regime, and at the EU level implementing that regime has been a political project of unification.  In contrast, alcohol and gambling are subject to no public health-oriented international regulation, and trade treaties and agreements have been used as instruments to weaken national and local control regimes.  Tobacco and psychopharmaceuticals (along with other medications under prescription regimes), are at intermediate positions. At the EU level, court decisions on trade and national control issues have paid substantial attention to considerations of public health and interest. But at the global level, international trade and investment law has fairly systematically operated to undercut control for public health or in the public interest in all areas other than the drug prohibition treaties.  Particularly globally, there has been a tendency toward a Manichean system where an addictive commodity either is forbidden entirely or is subject to free-market rules with diminishing restrictions on the market and promotion.    

    Read more about The governance of addictions at the international level
  • Escaping deadlock - alcohol policy-making in the EU

    2009. Jenny Cisneros Örnberg. Journal of European Public Policy 16 (5), 755-773

    Article

    Despite the cultural and ideological diversity of the member states when it comes to alcohol, several alcohol-related initiatives have been taken recently at the EU level. The purpose of this article is to analyse the development of two of these initiatives: the Council Recommendation of 5 June 2001 on the drinking of alcohol by young people, and the invitation from the Council to the Commission to develop a Community Alcohol Strategy, both adopted during the Swedish Presidency in 2001. Drawing from Hritier's work on escaping deadlock it is argued that EU decisions on alcohol policy were made possible by using four strategies: priority, anchorage, lowest common denominator and baby steps. In cases of weak EU supranational competence the possibilities of escaping deadlock differ somewhat from cases of strong legislative competence and the strategies of priority and anchorage seem to be of particular importance for questions based on soft law decision-making.

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Show all publications by Jenny Cisneros Örnberg at Stockholm University