This article explores how policy narratives in national policy documents in Sweden inform associated politics on people with dementia. This is disentangled in terms of how people with dementia have been defined, what the problems and their imminent solutions have been, and if and how these have differed over time. Based on a textual analysis of policy documents at national level in Sweden, covering nearly 40 years the study shows how divergent policy narratives shape the construction of citizens with dementia as policy target groups. This study shows the temporal character of people with dementia as a political problem, the implications of policy narratives on people with dementia as a citizen group, and policy narratives as something being crafted rather than shaped by fixed pre-existing "facts". Dementia, and further citizens living with dementia, does not have a once and for all stabilised meaning. Instead, the meanings behind the categories continue to evolve and to be crafted, which affects the construction of citizens living with dementia, the space in which to exercise their citizenship and further belonging to the society.

This paper contributes to the knowledge on the governing of healthcare in a democratic context in times of austerity. Resource allocation in healthcare is a highly political issue but the political nature of healthcare is not always made clear and the role of politicians is often obscure. The absence of politicians in rationing/disinvestment arrangements is usually explained with blame-shifting arguments; they prefer to delegate "the burden of responsibility" to administrative agencies or professionals. Drawing on a case where Swedish regional politicians involved themselves in setting priorities at a more detailed level than previously, the findings suggest that the subject of "blame avoidance" is more complicated than usually assumed. A qualitative case study was designed, involving semi-structured interviews with 14 regionally elected politicians in one Swedish health authority, conducted in June 2011. The interviews were analysed through a thematic analysis in accordance with the "framework approach" by Ritchie and Lewis. Findings show that an overarching strategy among the politicians was to appear united and to suppress conflict, which served to underpin the vital strategy of bringing the medical profession into the process. A key finding is the importance that politicians, when appearing "backstage", attach to the prevention of blame from the medical profession. This case illustrates that one has to take into account that priority settings requires various types of skills and knowledges - not only technical but also political and social. Another important lesson points toward the need to broaden the political leadership repertoire, as leadership in the case of priority setting is not about politicians being all in or all out. The results suggest that in a priority-setting process it is of importance to have politics on-board at an early stage to secure loyalty to the process, although not necessarily being involved in all details.

To protect and to support: How citizenship and self-determination are legally constructed and managed in practice for people living with dementia in Sweden, 2016, Dementia, (15) AbstractSince living with dementia implies increasing difficulties in taking charge of rights due to cognitive as well as communicative impairments, many people with dementia are vulnerable and in need of support in order to realize full citizenship. In Sweden, all adults right to selfdetermination is strongly emphasized in law, regulations, and policies. Further, and in contrast to the situation in many other countries, people living with dementia cannot be declared as incompetent of making decisions concerning social care and their right to self-determination cannot legally be taken away. The article shows that in the Swedish welfare system, the focus is more on protecting the self-determination of citizens than on supporting people in making decisions and exercising citizenship. Subsequently, this causes legally constructed zones of inclusion and exclusion. This article examines and problematizes how different institutional contexts, legal constructions, norms, and practices in Sweden affect the management of issues concerning guardianship, supported decision-making and self-determination, and outline the implications for people living with dementia.

This paper focuses on problem frame differences among actors (members of an advisory body, senior administrators and clinical unit managers) who are concerned with the introduction of new health technology at the regional level in Sweden. It explores issues

A highly significant element in politics and policies is the process of constructing, categorizing and imagingsuch as categorizing citizens as target groups. In governing documents, distinctions are drawn to distinguish deserving and undeserving categories of citizens. This paper explores the construction of citizenship for people with dementia and the connection to underlying categories of rationales, by analyzing how this group has been categorized and imaged in policy documents. The study is based on a qualitative textual analysis of national policy documents in Sweden, covering nearly 40 years. It shows that the way people with dementia have been imaged has differed over time, where people living with dementia have been situated in various target groups and discourses. However, to a large extent, the underlying understanding has nevertheless remained persistent where the position of people with dementia has remained weak. It offers a taxonomy of categories of rationales and shows the interplay of rationales and target groups for certain social constructions. The study offers insights into the policy process related to policy change, and on citizenship as something transformative and interrelated that risks upholding democratic values that delimit disempowered groups, in this case people with dementia, to influence their citizenship.