Report
Invisible threats to democracy Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Allan Eriksson
What right does the state have to decide that its citizens should be vaccinated? That question was asked as early as the 19th century, when smallpox vaccination became mandatory in Sweden and in many other countries. – The resistance to vaccinations is as old as the vaccinations themselves, says Johannes Lindvall. He is the new August Röhss Professor of Political Science and believes that historical knowledge gives us perspective on today’s problems. 26
GUJOURNAL SUMMER 2021
Should the school be public or private, state or municipal? How should the police be governed? Should vaccination of children be mandatory? People thought about that during the 19th century as well.
The GU Journal met Johan-
nes Lindvall at the Department of Political Science. He had cycled there from the central station after taking the train from Lund, where he is still working for a few more weeks. He folds his two-wheeler into a handy package that he carries through the entrance. It has been 17 years since he defended his thesis here, now he is back after also working at Oxford and Harvard, among other places. Social science and humanities research is important, not least to teach us to look at the time in which we are living with new eyes, Johannes Lindvall explains. – We like to believe that the time in which we are living is unique, but it is almost always possible to draw parallels to other countries and eras.
Political science is about how society works, and in a democracy it is a question that should concern everyone. JOHANNES LINDVALL
Johannes Lindvall’s latest book, Inward Conquest, is about how public services, such as the school and the police, have developed since the 19th century. But he is also involved in other projects, for example on migration policy and the welfare state, as well as on government building in the 19th century. Social sciences, not least political science, should serve the public interest, he says. – Political science is about how society works, and in a democracy it is a question that should concern everyo-
