Erik Åsard

I am a Professor of North American Studies with an orientation toward political science at the Department of English, Uppsala University. I have a Ph.D. in political science from the same university (1978). Since 1987 I have been director of the Swedish Institute for North American Studies (SINAS), which merged with the Department of English in 2003.

My main research interests are American politics, media and political communication, and transatlantic relations. I teach courses in American politics, political history, mass media, and race and ethnicity in U.S. society on the undergraduate and master’s levels. I have lectured at many universities in Sweden and abroad including the John F. Kennedy Institute, Free University, Berlin, Brown University, University of Oslo, Harvard University, the University of Hawaii, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Oregon, Eugene, and the University of Florida, Gainesville.

I am a member of several professional organizations and have been President of the Nordic Association for American Studies (1992-1997) and of the American Studies Network in Europe (1994-1995, Vice-President 2007-10), a group of some twenty American Studies institutes in Europe of which SINAS is a founding member. From 1992 to 1997 I was the Nordic representative on the board of the European Association for American Studies. In 1996 I was elected member of the Utrikespolitiska Samfundet in Stockholm.

Currently I am on the editorial board of two international journals: The European Journal of American Studies and The Journal of Political Marketing. Since 2008 I am also the Swedish representative for the Salzburg Global Seminar American Studies Alumni Association (SSASAA). I have been the recipient of several scholarships and research grants from The Swedish Institute (1978-79), The Sweden-America Foundation (1978-79), The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation (1988-94), The Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and the Social Sciences (1989-94), and The Swedish Council for Social Research (1997-99).

Den sårbara supermakten. USA:s väg från John F. Kennedy till Barack Obama (The Fragile Superpower: The United States from John F Kennedy to Barack Obama, Lund: Historiska Media, 2010). Watch an interview with Erik Åsard about the book on Kunskapskanalen.

Hillary Rodham Clinton: En politisk biografi (Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Political Biography, Lund: Historiska Media, 2008)

“Kulten av mångfalden,” review of Walter Benn Michaels, The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality, in Multiethnica, No. 31, 2008, pp. 37-38

Det dunkelt tänkta: Konspirationsteorier om morden på John F. Kennedy och Olof Palme (Conspiracy Theories Concerning the Assassinations of JFK and Olof Palme, Stockholm: Ordfront, 2006)

“Conspiracy Theories in America: Two Approaches,” in Russell Duncan & Clara Juncker, eds., Transnational America: Contours of Modern U.S. Culture (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2004), pp. 79-94

“Americanization or Globalization? Themes and Topics in a Recurring Debate,” in Kerstin W. Shands et al., eds., Notions of America: Swedish Perspectives (Huddinge: Södertörn Academic Studies, 2004), pp. 15-22

“Influence and Presence, Depth and Surface: Studying the American Impact on Other Countries,” American Studies in Scandinavia, No. 2, 2004, pp. 13-19

Reconceptualizing Europe, ed. with Kristian Gerner (Uppsala, 2002)

Politikern Olof Palme, ed. (Stockholm, 2002)

“Senator Joe McCarthy and the Conspiracy Theory in American Political History,” in Lena M. Koski, ed., American Studies at the Millennium: Ethnicity, Culture & Literature (University of Turku: Department of Art Studies 2002), pp. 13-27

Positiv särbehandling i Sverige och USA, ed. with Harald Runblom (Affirmative Action in Sweden and the United States, Stockholm: Carlssons, 2000)

“Televised Party Leader and Presidential Candidate Debates in Sweden and the United States,” in Thomas A. Hollihan, ed., Argument at Century’s End: Reflecting on the Past and Envisioning the Future. Selected Papers from the Eleventh NCA/AFA Conference on Argumentation at the University of Utah, July 1999 (The National Communication Association 2000), with Bruce E. Gronbeck, pp. 394-402

“The Limits of ’Americanization’ in Swedish Politics,” The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly, No. 3, 1999, pp. 173-181

Democracy and the Marketplace of Ideas: Communication and Government in Sweden and the United States, with W. Lance Bennett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997)

“The 1996 U.S. Presidential Election: Return of the ‘Comeback Kid’,” Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, No. 3, 1997, 349-362

Packaging Political Propaganda: Text, Context, and the Study of Political Communication (Uppsala: Uppsala North American Studies Reports, No. 11, 1996)

Makten, medierna och myterna: Socialdemokratiska ledare från Branting till Carlsson (Power, Media, and Myths: Social Democratic Party Leaders from Branting to Carlsson, Stockholm: Carlssons, 1996), ed.

“Hope, Unity, and Diversity: Text and Context in Bill Clinton's 1993 Inauguration,” in Christer Åsberg, ed., Retoriska frågor: Texter om tal och talare från Quintilianus till Clinton tillägnade Kurt Johannesson (Stockholm: Norstedts 1995), pp. 282-295

“The Swedish Folkhem vs. the American Dream: Myths and Markers in Two Political Campaign Films,” in Vidar Pedersen and Zeljka Svrljuga, eds., Performances in American Literature and Culture: Essays in Honor of Professor Orm Överland on his 60th Birthday (Bergen: Bergen University Press, 1995), pp. 9-27

“The 1994 U.S. Midterm Elections: Significant Shift or Temporary Turmoil?,” Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, No. 3, 1995 (with Barbara L. Nicholson), pp. 321-330

“Regulating the Marketplace of Ideas: Political Rhetoric in Swedish and American National Elections,” Political Studies, No. 4, 1995 (with W. Lance Bennett), pp. 645-663

“The Marketplace of Ideas: The Rhetoric and Politics of Tax Reform in Sweden and the United States,” Polity, No. 1, 1995 (with W. Lance Bennett), pp. 1-23

Janusansiktet: Amerikansk populism i historisk belysning (Janus: The Dual Face of American Populism, Uppsala: Uppsala North American Studies Series 1, 1994)

Networks of Americanization: Aspects of the American Influence in Sweden (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis 79, 1992), ed. with Rolf Lundén

“Why is Swedish Politics So Thoroughly ’Swedish’?,” in Lundén & Åsard, eds., Networks of Americanization, pp. 161-171

Den konservativa eran: Amerikansk politik från Reagan till Bush (The Conservative Era: American Politics from Reagan to Bush, Uppsala: Uppsala North American Studies Reports, No. 7, 1991)

“Election Campaigns in Sweden and the United States: Convergence or Divergence?,” American Studies in Scandinavia, No. 2, 1989, pp. 70-87

“Father Coughlin and Populist Insurgency Against the New Deal”, in Maurizio Vaudagna, ed., special issue on “The United States in the Late Thirties,” Storia Nordamericana, No. 1-2, 1989, pp. 91-107

American Culture: Creolized, Creolizing and other lectures from the NAAS Biennial Conference in Uppsala, May 28-31, 1987 (Uppsala: Uppsala North American Studies Reports, No. 4, 1988), ed.

“Quentin Skinner and His Critics: Some Notes on a Methodological Debate,” Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, No. 2, 1987, pp. 101-116

“Industrial and Economic Democracy in Sweden: From Consensus to Confrontation,” European Journal of Political Research, No. 1-2, 1986, pp. 207-219

“American Unions and Industrial Democracy: The ’Business Unionism’ Thesis Reexamined,” Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, No. 3, 1982, pp. 155-164

“Employee Participation in Sweden, 1971-1979: The Issue of Economic Democracy,” Economic and Industrial Democracy: An International Journal, No. 3, 1980, pp. 371-393