title: Crime in Sweden

text: Six out of ten respondents surveyed in the SCS 2013 said they had a high level of confidence in the criminal justice system as a whole, and the police enjoyed similarly high confidence levels. Of the crime victims, a little over half of all surveyed (57%) stated that their experience of the police was generally positive, and nearly one in seven stated that the experience was negative.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In general, the level of corruption in Sweden is very low. The legal and institutional framework in Sweden are considered effective in fighting against corruption, and the government agencies are characterized by a high degree of transparency, integrity and accountability.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Sweden began recording national crime statistics in 1950, and the method for recording crime has basically remained unchanged until the mid-1960s, when the Swedish police introduced new procedures for crime statistics, which have been presented as a partial explanation for the historical increase in crime reports. In 1974, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (, abbreviated Brå) became the government agency tasked with producing official statistics and disseminating knowledge on crime. In the early 1990s a new crime reporting system was implemented, which meant that the manual controls became less frequent, resulting in an additional increase in the number of reported crimes.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In January 2017, the Löfven cabinet denied the request from member parliament Staffan Danielsson to update the BRÅ statistics on crime with respect to national or immigration background of the perpetrator, as had previously been done in 1995, 2005 but the 2015 was overdue.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: According to a 2013 Swedish Crime Survey (SCS) by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, exposure to crime decreased from 2005 to 2013. Since 2014, reports from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention say that there has been an increase in exposure to some categories of crimes, including fraud, some property crime and sexual offences according to the 2016 SCS. Crimes falling under threats, harassment, assault and robbery continued to climb through 2018. The increase in reports of sexual offenses is, in part, due to campaigns to encourage reporting, combined with changes to the laws that broadened the legal definition of rape.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The figures for fraud and property damage (excluding car theft) are in contrast with the numbers of reported crimes under such categories which have remained roughly constant over the period 2014–16. The number of reported sexual offences clearly reflect the figures in the 2016 SCS, and car related damages/theft are also somewhat reflected. The number of convictions up to 2013 has remained between 110,000 and 130,000 in the 2000s — a decrease since the 1970s, when they numbered around 300,000 — despite the population growth.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Comparisons between countries based on official crime statistics (i.e. "crime reports") require caution, since such statistics are produced differently in different countries. Legal and substantive factors also influence the number of reported crimes. For example:


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Large-scale victimisation surveys have been presented as a more reliable indicator on the level of crime in a given country.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: By 2018 gang violence, which had long been a feature of vulnerable areas, had begun to spill out into the wider society where hospital staff reported armed confrontations in emergency rooms and school authorities reported that threats and weapons having become more frequent.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In 2020, crime statistics showed that 12 bystanders had been killed and 19 wounded in incidents of gang violence involving shootings and bombings in the preceding six years.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: According to the EU-SILC survey, Sweden is one of the countries in Europe where the highest share of the population experience problems with crime, violence or vandalism in the area they live. In the survey, respondents are questioned whether they experience problem in the area they live. In 2017, 13% stated that they experienced problems with violence, crime or vandalism where they live, while other Nordic countries are among the countries with the lowest share with Norway at 4%, Denmark at 8% and Finland 6%.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The trend is the reverse of that in other European countries whereas in Sweden there was an increase by 2% in the 2010–2017 time frame, the EU average dropped by 3%. All countries in the EU except Sweden, Germany and Lithuania show a falling trend.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Experienced problems vary with the population density of the area, whereas in the EU larger cities have three times the rate of the countryside, Sweden data shows high rate also in sparsely populated areas.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The Swedish Crime Survey (SCS) () is a recurrent victim survey since 2005 by Brå of the attitudes and experiences of the general population regarding victimization, fear of crime and public confidence in the justice system, with an annual sample size of around 15,000 respondents.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The level of exposure to offences against the person has decreased somewhat since 2005 (down from 13.1% to 11.4%), according to SCS 2013. Crimes in this group includes assault, threat, sexual offences, mugging, fraud or harassment. In the recently published SCS 2016, exposure to offences has increased to levels as seen prior to 2005, with 13.3% of the people surveyed reporting that they had been victim to one or more of the aforementioned crimes.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: While the number of reported assaults has been on the increase, crime victim surveys show that a large part of the increase may be due to the fact that more crimes are actually reported. According to the 2013 SCS, the proportion who stated that they have been the victims of assault has declined gradually, from 2.7 per cent in 2005 to 1.9 per cent in 2012. The proportion who are anxious about falling victim to assault has also decreased, from 15 per cent in 2006 to 10 per cent in 2013. This is supported by medical services reporting unchanged levels of incoming patients with wounds derived from assault or serious violent crime. Studies have also shown that police are increasingly likely to personally initiate reports of assault between strangers, which contributes to more cases involving assault being reported.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In the recently published 2016 SCS 2.0 per cent of the population (ages 16–79) were exposed to assault. Over time, exposure to assault has decreased somewhat, and the percentage of victims has declined by 0.7 percentage points since the survey was first conducted in 2005, reaching its lowest point in 2012 and rising slightly since then. The primary reduction has been among young men.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Exposure to assault is more common for men than women, and most common in the 20–24 age bracket. Assault is most common in a public place and in most cases the perpetrator is unknown to the victim.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Sweden has a high rate of reported assault crime when compared internationally, but this can be explained by legal, procedural and statistical differences. For example, the Swedish police applies a system of expansive offence counts for violent crimes, meaning the same crime may be recorded several times. The 2005 European Crime and Safety Survey (2005 EU ICS) found that prevalence victimisation rates for assaults with force was below average in Sweden.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In 2015, 5.0 per cent were exposed to threats. The percentage of persons exposed to threats remained at a relatively stable level between 2005 and 2014.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Exposure to threats is more common among women than men, and most common in the 20–24 and 25–34 age brackets.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The number of cases of lethal violence [Murder, manslaughter, and assault with a lethal outcome) in Sweden remained at a relatively constant level over the period of 2002 to 2016 — on average 92 cases per year.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Since 2015 there has been an increase in the number of cases of lethal violence and the figure in 2017 was the highest in Sweden since 2002.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Studies of lethal violence in Sweden have shown that more than half the reported cases were not actually cases of murder or manslaughter. This is because the Swedish crime statistics show all events with a lethal outcome that the police investigate. Many of these reported crimes turn out to be, in reality, suicides, accidents or natural deaths.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Despite this statistical anomaly, Sweden has an internationally low murder and homicide rate, with approximately 1.14 reported incidents of murder or manslaughter per 100,000 inhabitants as of 2015. The number of "confirmed cases of lethal violence" has fluctuated between 68 and 112 in the period of 2006–2015, with a decrease from 111 in 2007 to 68 in 2012, followed by an increase to 112 in 2015 and a decrease to 106 in 2016.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In 2016 ten out of the 105 murder cases were honor killings, representing roughly 10% of all murder cases and a third of all murders of women in Sweden.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In May 2017 a survey by "Dagens Nyheter" showed that of 100 suspects of murder and attempted murder using firearms, 90 had one parent born abroad 75% were born in the 90s.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: According to a comparison of crime statistics from the Norwegian National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) and the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) done by Norwegian daily newspaper "Aftenposten", the murder rate of Sweden has since 2002 been roughly twice that of neighbour country Norway.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Gun violence in Sweden (Swedish: "skjutningar" or "gängskjutningar") increased steeply among males aged 15 to 29 in the two decades prior to 2018, in addition to a rising trend in gun violence there was also a high rate of gun violence in Sweden compared to other countries in Western Europe.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: As of 2019, Sweden is experiencing an unprecedented number of bombings and explosions, though comparisons with previous years are difficult since the criminal use of explosives was not a separate crime category until 2017. In 2018 there were 162 explosions, and in the first nine months of 2019 97 explosions were registrered, usually carried out by criminal gangs.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The number of hand grenade detonations in particular has been unusually high, especially in 2016. According to criminologists Manne Gerell and Amir Rostami, the only other country that keeps track of hand grenade explosions is Mexico. While Mexico has a murder rate 20 times that of Sweden, on the specific category of grenade explosions per capita the two countries may be comparable. According to Swedish police commissioner Anders Thornberg "No international equivalent to Sweden's wave of bombings". These attacks occurs in both rich and low-income places. Swedish police do not record or release the ethnicity of convicted criminals, but Linda H Straaf head of intelligence at National Operations Department says they are from poor areas and many are second- or third-generation immigrants.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: While Swedish media sometimes are accused of not covering the topic enough, a 2019 study by polling company Kantar Sifo found that law and order was the most covered news topic on Swedish TV and radio and on social media.<ref name="bbc.com/news/"></ref>


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In 2019, Denmark, worried about the bombings in Sweden, introduced passport controls for the first time since the 1950s.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: While gun homicides were on the rise in the 2011-2018 time span, according to a study at Malmö University the number of hand grenade attacks had shown a strong increase in the same period and a total of 116 hand grenade detonations were recorded. The number of hand grenade attacks increased from two in 2011 to 39 in 2016 where the latter was a record year. Of the hand grenade attacks, 28% are directed towards individuals and the remainder towards police stations and other buildings. Two people have been killed and about ten have been injured.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In January 2018, a 63-year-old man was killed when he found a grenade on his way to a supermarket with his wife. Thinking it was a toy, he picked it up and was killed when it detonated. In 2016 an 8-year-old boy was killed when a hand grenade was thrown into an apartment in Biskopsgården as part of crime gang warfare.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Criminologists in Sweden don't know why there was a strong increase and why Sweden has a much higher rate than countries close by.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: A long-standing tradition of gender equality policy and legislation, as well as an established women's movement, have led to several legislative changes and amendments, greatly expanding the sex crime legislation. For example, in 1965 Sweden was one of the first countries in the world to criminalise marital rape, and Sweden is one of a few countries in the world to criminalizing only the purchase of sexual services, but not the selling.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The rate of exposure to sexual offences has remained relatively unchanged, according to the SCS, since the first survey was conducted in 2006, despite an increase in the number of reported sex crimes. This discrepancy can largely be explained by reforms in sex crime legislation, widening of the definition of rape, and an effort by the Government to decrease the number of unreported cases. In SCS 2013, 0.8 percent of respondents state that they were the victims of sexual offences, including rape; or an estimated 62,000 people of the general population (aged 16–79). Of these, 16 percent described the sexual offence as "rape" — which would mean approximately 36,000 incidents of rape in 2012.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: According to the 2016 SCS 1.7 percent of persons stated that they had been exposed to a sexual offence. This is an increase of more than 100 percent compared to 2012 and a 70 percent compared to 2014, when 1.0 percent of persons stated exposure. Exposure to sexual offences is significantly more common among women than men, and most common in the 20–24 age bracket. Sexual offences are most common in a public place and in most cases the perpetrator is unknown to the victim.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: A frequently cited source when comparing Swedish rape statistics internationally is the regularly published report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) — although they discourage this practice. In 2012, according to the report by UNODC, Sweden was quoted as having 66.5 cases of reported rapes per 100,000 population, based on official statistics by Brå. The high number of reported rapes in Sweden can partly be explained by differing legal systems, offence definitions, terminological variations, recording practices and statistical conventions, making any cross-national comparison on rape statistics difficult.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: According to a 2014 study published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), approximately one third of all women in the EU were said to have suffered physical and/or sexual abuse. At the top end was Denmark (52%), Finland (47%) and Sweden (46%). Every second woman in the EU has experienced sexual harassment at least once since the age of 15. In Sweden that figure was 81 percent, closely followed by Denmark (80%) and France (75%). Included in the definition of "sexual harassment" was — among other things — inappropriate staring or leering and cyber harassment. The report concluded that there's a strong correlation between higher levels of gender equality and disclosure of sexual violence.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In its 2018 report, "Nationella trygghetsundersökningen 2018" (tr: "national survey of safety 2018") the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention stated that there had been an increase in the self-reported number of victims of sexual crime from 4.7% in 2016 to 6.4% in 2017. In the 5 preceding years there were escalating levels compared to the 2005–2012 period where the level was relatively stable. The increase in self-reporte victimisation was greater among women than among men. while the number of male victims remained largely constant over the timespan (see graph). The questionnaire polls for incidents which would equate to attempted sexual assault or rape according to Swedish law.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In August 2018, SVT reported that rape statistics in Sweden show that 58% of men convicted of rape and attempted rape over the past five years were immigrants born outside of the European Union: Southern Africans, Northern Africans, Arabs, Middle Easterns, and Afghans. Swedish Television's investigating journalists found that in cases where the victims didn't know the attackers, the proportion of foreign-born sex offenders was more than 80%. The number of rapes reported to the authorities in Sweden significantly increased by 10% in 2017, according to latest preliminary figures from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention. The number of reported rape cases was 73 per 100,000 citizens in 2017, up 24% in the past decade. Official numbers show that the incidence of sexual offences is on the rise; the Government has declared that young women are facing the greatest risks and that most of the cases go unreported.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The rate of exposure to muggings has remained relatively unchanged since 2005, according to the SCS, with 0.9 per cent of respondents stating they were the victim of such a crime in 2015. There were 99 robberies recorded by police per 100,000 population in 2015. The prevalence victimisation rates for robbery was slightly above the EU-average in 2004, and lower than countries such as Ireland, Estonia, Greece, Spain, the United Kingdom and Poland.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Starting in 2015, there was a rising trend in robberies where self-reported victimisation rate rose to close to around 1.5 per cent in 2019 among people aged 16-84.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: A study published in 2000 by Brå on adolescent robberies in Stockholm and Malmö found that muggings had increased in the 90s, with approximately 10 per cent of the boys and 5 per cent of the girls aged 15–17 having been the target of a mugging. Desirable objects are mainly money and cell phones, with an average value of around SEK 800. Only half of the crime was reported to the police, and foreign-born youths were overrepresented in the offenders demographic. Follow-up studies have shown the level remaining unchanged between 1995 and 2005.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The percentage of persons exposed to harassment in 2015 was 4.7 per cent. This is an increase as compared with 2014, when 4.0 per cent stated that they had been exposed. Between 2005 and 2010, the percentage of exposed persons gradually declined from 5.2 per cent to 3.5 per cent. Thereafter, the percentage increased between 2011 and 2015 towards the same level as when the survey was commenced (when the percentage of exposed persons was 5.0%). Exposure to harassment is more common for women than men, and most common among the youngest in the survey (in the 16–19 age bracket). It is most common for the perpetrator to be unknown to the victim.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: There might be a correlation between rise in harassment by an unknown perpetrator due to the general rise of harassment in various online communities, but nothing conclusive. Most harassment reported is either women harassing women or men harassing men, the smallest portion of reported cases are men harassing women.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The SCS indicate that 9.2 per cent of households fell victim to some type of domestic property offence, which is a reduction since 2006 (when the percentage was 12.6). Crimes in this group includes theft, theft from a vehicle, bicycle theft or residential burglary. Around half of the domestic property offences reported in the SCS 2013 are stated as having been reported to the police, and the overwhelming majority of crime victims state that this happened only once in 2012.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Theft of personal property and pickpocketing are among the lowest in Europe, as is car theft and theft from a car.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Sweden had the lowest prevalence victimisation rate for burglary in Europe, according to the 2005 EU ICS, and the rate of exposure to residential burglary has remained relatively unchanged since 2006. In SCS 2013, 0.9 percent of households stated that they were the victims of burglary in 2012. Sweden had 785 cases of reported burglary per 100,000 population in 2012, which is a reduction from the previous year by 6 percent.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The majority of burglaries in Sweden are committed by international gangs from Eastern European countries like the Balkans, Romania, Poland, the Baltic countries, and Georgia. The total number of burglaries in southern Sweden were 5871 in 2015 and 4802, the reduction was attributed to border checks introduced in November 2015 due to the ongoing European migrant crisis and police having manage to catch a number of gangs in 2016. The third reason for the reduction was community cooperation.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Since Police in Sweden have a low conviction rate for burglaries, there is also corresponding ignorance about who the burglars are.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention received responsibility for compiling statistics in 1994, at which time the two main categories of offenders were youth and drug addicts. This pattern changed into one where the main category of offenders were organised gangs, some of which were composed of foreigners travelling to Sweden in order to commit crime and then return to their home countries again. In the Stockholm area police estimated in 2014 that a third of all burglaries were done by foreign nationals. In 2015 police were reported as estimating that foreign gangs comprising 1500 individuals were organized with some members living Sweden to coordinate thefts: a third of these gangs are from Lithuania, a fifth from Poland and the rest from Georgia, Belarus, Romania and Bulgaria. In 2017 police were reported as estimating that about half of the annual 20,000 burglaries, including failed attempts, were committed by gangs from the Balkans, Romania, the Baltic states and Georgia.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (MUCF), performed in 2018, and released in April 2019, 70% of men and 36% of women in the ages 16–29 years old were afraid of being subjected to violence when they are outside. In 2013 the percentages were 26% for men and 32% for women.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Sanctions under the Swedish Penal Code consist of fines and damages, imprisonment, conditional sentences, probation, being placed in special care and community service. Various sanctions can be combined. A basic premise in the Penal Code is that non-custodial penalties are more desirable than custodial, and the court has considerable latitude when choosing a criminal sanctions, paying special attention to measures chiefly aimed at rehabilitating offenders.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: A person who has committed a crime may be ordered to pay damages to the victim. Such damages can relate to compensation for destroyed clothing, a broken tooth, costs for medical care, pain and suffering, or personal violation. A person sentenced for an offence that could lead to imprisonment must pay SEK 800 to the Crime Victim Fund. Fines are determined in money, or as day fines. In the case of day fines, two figures are given, for example "40 day fines of SEK 50" (i.e. SEK 2,000). The first figure shows how serious the court has considered the offence and the latter figure depends on the financial situation of the accused.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Conditional sentences are primarily intended when a person commits a one-off crime and there is no reason to fear that he or she will re-offend. Probation can be applied to crimes for which fines are considered insufficient. Like a conditional sentence, it is non-custodial, but it is relatively intrusive.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: If a conditional sentence is imposed there will be a probationary period of two years. During this period, the person must conduct himself in an acceptable manner. The conditional sentence may be combined with day fines and/or an obligation to perform community service. There is no check made as to whether the person sentenced has conducted himself in an acceptable manner; but if the person is found to conduct himself in an unacceptable manner, the court may issue a warning, change a provision, or decide that the conditional sentence should be replaced by another sanction.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: A person who has been sentenced to probation is subject to a probationary period of three years. During this period, the person must conduct himself in an acceptable manner. A probation officer is appointed, who will assist and support the person sentenced. The court may specify rules about medical care, work and housing during the probationary period. The probation may be combined with day fines, imprisonment, an obligation to undergo care according to a predetermined treatment plan and/or to perform community service.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Community service is an obligation to perform certain unpaid work during a particular time. A person sentenced to community service serves his sentence through working, for example, for an association or a not-for-profit organisation.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: A person who has been sentenced to at most six months imprisonment has the opportunity to serve the sentence in the form of intensive supervision with electronic monitoring. The person sentenced will serve the penalty at home and may only leave home at certain times, for example, to go to work. Compliance with these times is checked electronically.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: A person who has been sentenced to prison will receive an order from the Swedish Prison and Probation Service to attend an institution. It is possible to start serving the penalty immediately after the judgement has been made, and in certain cases, the person sentenced can get a postponement up to one year. A sentence of imprisonment can, in certain cases, be enforced by the Prison and Probation Service with the use of an ankle monitor outside the institution.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Prison sentences may not be less than 14 days and may not exceed ten years (18 years for some offences) or life imprisonment. A person sentenced to life imprisonment can apply for a determined sentence at the Örebro Lower Court. A prisoner has to serve at least 10 years in prison before applying and the set sentence cannot be under 18 years. However, some prisoners may never be released, being considered too dangerous.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: According to the Penal Code, persons under 15 who have committed a crime cannot be sentenced to any sanction. If the under age offender is in need of corrective measures due to the crime, it is the responsibility of the National Board of Health and Welfare to rectify the situation, either by ordering that he be put into care in a family home or a home with special supervision.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: As a rule, offenders between 15 and 17 are subject to sanctions under the Act on Special Rules for the Care of the Young (SFS 1980:621) instead of normal criminal sanctions. An offender aged 15 and 17 years old, who have committed serious or repeated crimes, and is sentenced to prison or closed juvenile care usually serves time in a special youth home run by the National Board of Institutional Care. A person under 18 years is only sentenced to prison during exceptional circumstances. In less serious cases, fines are levied.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: For offenders between 18 and 19 years of age, measures in accordance with the Act on Special Rules for the Care may only be used to a limited extent. A person over 18 but under 21 can be sentenced to prison only if there are special reasons for this, with regard to the crime, or for other special reasons. A person who is under 21 when a crime was committed may receive milder sentencing than that normally stipulated, and may never be sentenced to life imprisonment if the crime was committed before Jan 2 2022.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Sweden had an incarceration rate of 66 persons per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, which is significantly lower than in most other countries. By comparison, the EU average incarceration rate in the period 2008–2010 was 126 persons per 100,000.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In 2012, approximately 12,000 prison terms were handed down—a level comparable to the one in the mid-1970s. The number of people sentenced to prison went down in the nine-year period of 2004–2013, but the average sentence length (approximately 8.4 months) has not been affected.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: There has been debate in the media about the crime rate in Sweden, and further debate about how crime has been affected by the accumulated immigration and refugee influx. Some international media have claimed that the refuge immigrants in Sweden created dangerous neighborhoods that are now "no-go zones" for Swedish police. Several pieces by Norsk rikskringkasting, the state-run media channel in the neighboring country Norway have described the "no-go zones" as areas in which ambulances, the fire brigade and police are routinely attacked, with reporter Anders Magnus in 2016 threatened and hurled rocks at by masked men when he tried to make interviews in Husby. Norwegian minister of immigration and integration Sylvi Listhaug and opposition politician Bård Vegard Solhjell said that they were "shocked" by the emergence of no-go zones in Sweden.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Another incidence of foreign journalists attacked in a Stockholm suburb includes the Australian team of Liz Hayes from CBS's "60 minutes" in Rinkeby in 2016, working with anti-immigration activist Jan Sjunnesson, in which a member of the crew was allegedly dragged into a building during filming and punched and kicked by several people. In 2017, independent investigative journalist Tim Pool was escorted out of Rinkeby by police, "as many men were getting agitated by our presence". However, Swedish police authorities claimed that Pool was not formally escorted out of the area, as no police report on the incident was filed. After his visit to Sweden, Pool concluded that Sweden "has real problems".


title: Crime in Sweden

text: Swedish-Kurdish economist Tino Sanandaji said that, due to fear of being perceived as racists, it has been taboo in Sweden to describe the situation in vulnerables areas due to their having a high fraction of immigrants.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In February 2017, UKIP British politician Nigel Farage defined the Swedish city of Malmö as the "rape capital of Europe", and linked a high number of rapes in Sweden to the immigrants and asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East; he was subsequently criticized by the BBC because, at the time, there were no data available on the ethnicity of the attackers.


title: Crime in Sweden

text: In November 2020, Swedish crime trends were used as an example not to follow by the Finns Party who claimed both Sweden and Finland's problem with youth crime were the result of failed immigration policies. Interior minister Maria Ohisalo instead maintained that the problems were due to "inequality".


title: Edmund Barton

text: Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton, (18 January 18497 January 1920) was an Australian politician and judge who served as the first prime minister of Australia from 1901 to 1903, holding office as the leader of the Protectionist Party. He resigned to become a founding member of the High Court of Australia, where he served until his death.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton was an early supporter of the federation of the Australian colonies, the goal of which he summarised as "a nation for a continent, and a continent for a nation". After the retirement of Henry Parkes he came to be seen as the leader of the federation movement in New South Wales. He was a delegate to the constitutional conventions, playing a key role in the drafting of a national constitution, and was one of the lead campaigners for federation in the subsequent referendums. In late 1900, despite the initial "Hopetoun Blunder", Barton was commissioned to form a caretaker government as Australia's first prime minister. His term began on 1 January 1901, the date on which federation occurred.


title: Edmund Barton

text: At the first federal election in March 1901, Barton and the Protectionists won the most seats, but were well short of a majority. He was able to continue on as a prime minister by forming an alliance with the fledgling Australian Labor Party (ALP), which held the balance of power. The Barton government established a number of new national institutions, including the Australian Defence Force and the Commonwealth Public Service. It introduced nation-wide women's suffrage, and laid the foundations of the White Australia policy with the "Immigration Restriction Act 1901".


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton left politics in 1903 to become one of the three founding members of the High Court, which his government had created. He was succeeded as prime minister by Alfred Deakin. On the court, Barton was able to shape the judicial interpretation of the constitution he had helped write.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton was born on 18 January 1849 in Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales. He was the eleventh of twelve children born to Mary Louisa (née Whydah) and William Barton. He had seven sisters and four brothers, including the writer George Burnett Barton. Three of his siblings died during his childhood. His given name had not previously been used in the family, and may have been in honour of the recently deceased explorer Edmund Kennedy. Barton's parents were both born in London, England, although his father's family was originally from Devon. They arrived in the Colony of New South Wales in 1827, and all but two of their children were born in Australia. William Barton worked variously as an accountant, bazaar proprietor, stockbroker, and real estate agent. His business ventures were not always successful, and he went bankrupt on one occasion.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton spent his early years in Glebe, but in 1851 the family moved into the inner city, living on Cumberland Street in The Rocks. He had a relatively comfortable upbringing, although his father faced financial difficulties on a number of occasions. To support the family during those periods, his mother ran a boarding school for girls. His parents were both highly literate, and his mother in particular "provided much of the direction and encouragement for Edmund's impressive academic achievement". Barton began his formal education at what is now the Fort Street Public School. He later attended Sydney Grammar School, possibly as one of the first students after the school's opening in 1857. One of his close friends in his youth was Richard O'Connor, who would eventually join him on the High Court. Barton was the dux and school captain at Sydney Grammar in 1863 and 1864. He matriculated to the University of Sydney in 1865, aged 16, and was awarded a special prize by the university senate. Barton failed to win one of the three entrance scholarships to Sydney University owing to 'an insufficiency of mathematics'.


title: Edmund Barton

text: At university, Barton specialised in classics but also studied English literature, mathematics, physics, and French. He became fluent in Ancient Greek and Latin, and retained a command of both later in life. A new professor, Charles Badham, arrived in 1867 and was a "profound influence". Barton won scholarships in his second and third years. He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1868 with first-class honours, and was awarded the equivalent of the University Medal as well as a prize of £20. He proceeded to Master of Arts by examination in 1870.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton was a member of the Sydney University Cricket Club and a founding member of the Sydney Rowing Club. On a cricketing trip to Newcastle in 1870 he met Jane Mason Ross, whom he married in 1877.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In 1879, Barton umpired a cricket match at Sydney Cricket Ground between New South Wales and an English touring side captained by Lord Harris. After a controversial decision by Barton's colleague George Coulthard against the home side, the crowd spilled onto the pitch and assaulted some of the English players, leading to international cricket's first riot. In the subsequent public controversy, George Reid censured Coulthard and absolved the crowd, while Barton defended Coulthard and did not spare the crowd. The publicity that attended the young Barton's presence of mind in defusing that situation reputedly helped him take his first step towards becoming Australia's first prime minister, winning a state lower house seat later that year.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In 1876 Barton stood for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in the poll of the graduates of the University of Sydney (who were required to wear gowns for the occasion), but was beaten by William Charles Windeyer 49 votes to 43. When Windeyer resigned, Barton won the 1879 by-election. When it was abolished in 1880, he became the member for Wellington, from November 1880 to 1882, and East Sydney, from November 1882 to January 1887. At this stage he considered it "almost unnecessary" to point out his support for free trade.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In 1882, he became Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. He was aged only 33, and was the youngest person to have been chosen presiding officer of any Australian legislative chamber. In 1884 he was elected President of the University of Sydney Union. In 1887, he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council at the instigation of Sir Henry Parkes. In January 1889, he agreed to being appointed Attorney General of New South Wales in George Dibbs's Protectionist government, despite his previous support for free trade. This government lasted only until March, when Parkes formed a government again.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton was an early supporter of federation, which became a serious political agenda after Henry Parkes' Tenterfield Oration, and was a delegate to the March 1891 National Australasian Convention. At the convention he made clear his support for the principle that "trade and intercourse ... shall be absolutely free" in a federal Australia. He also advocated that not just the lower house but also the upper house should be representative and that appeals to the Privy Council should be abolished. He also took part in producing a draft constitution, which was substantially similar to the Constitution of Australia enacted in 1900.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Nevertheless, the protectionists were lukewarm supporters of federation and in June 1891, Barton resigned from the Council and stood for election to East Sydney and announced that "so long as Protection meant a Ministry of enemies to Federation, they would get no vote from him". He topped the poll and subsequently voted with Parkes, but refused to take a position in his minority government. After the Labor Party withdrew support and the government fell in October 1891, Parkes persuaded him to take over the leadership of the Federal movement in New South Wales.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Dibbs formed a Protectionist government and Barton agreed to be Attorney General with the right of carry out private practice as a lawyer. His agreement was based on Dibbs agreeing to support federal resolutions in the coming parliamentary session. His attempt to draft the federal resolutions was delayed by a period as acting Premier of New South Wales, when he had to deal with the 1892 Broken Hill miners' strike, and his carriage of a complex electoral reform bill. He introduced the federal resolutions into the House on 22 November 1892 but was unable to get them considered in committee.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Meanwhile, he began a campaign to spread support for federation to the people with meetings in Corowa and Albury in December 1892. Although he finally managed to get the federal resolutions considered in committee in October 1893, he then could not get them listed for debate by the House. In December, he and Richard O'Connor, the Minister for Justice, were questioned about their agreement to act as private lawyers against the government in "Proudfoot v. the Railway Commissioners". While Barton resigned the brief, he lost a motion on the right of ministers to act in their professional capacity as lawyers in actions against the government, and immediately resigned as Attorney-General.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In July 1894, Barton stood for re-election for Randwick, since the electorate of East Sydney had been abolished, and lost. He did not stand for election in the 1895 election, very possibly because of financial difficulties. However, he continued to campaign for federation and during the period between January 1893 to February 1897, Barton addressed nearly 300 meetings in New South Wales, including in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield where he declared that "For the first time in history, we have a nation for a continent and a continent for a nation". By March 1897, he was considered "the acknowledged leader of the federal movement in all Australia".


title: Edmund Barton

text: In 1897, Barton topped the poll of the delegates elected from New South Wales to the Constitutional Convention, which developed a constitution for the proposed federation. Although Sir Samuel Griffith wrote most of the text of the Constitution, Barton was the political leader who carried it through the Convention.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In May 1897, Barton was appointed for the second time to the Legislative Council on Reid's recommendations to take charge of the federation bill in the Upper House. This gave Reid's Attorney-General, Jack Want, a free hand to oppose the bill. In September 1897, the convention met in Sydney to consider 286 proposed amendments from the colonies. It finalised its draft constitution in March 1898 and Barton went back to New South Wales to lead the campaign for a yes vote in the June referendum. Although it gained majority support, it achieved only 71,595; 80,000 was the minimum number for it to pass.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In July 1898 Barton resigned from the Upper House to challenge Reid for the seat of Sydney-King in the 1898 general election, but narrowly lost. In September, he won a by-election for Hastings and Macleay and was immediately elected leader of the opposition, which consisted of a mixture of pro-federation and anti-federation protectionists. In January 1899 Reid gained significant concessions from the other states and he joined Barton in campaigning for the second referendum in June 1899, with Barton campaigning all over the state. It passed 107,420 votes to 82,741.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In August 1899 when it became clear that the Labor Party could be manoeuvred into bringing down the Reid Government, Barton resigned as leader of the opposition, as he was unacceptable to Labour, and William Lyne took his place. He allegedly refused an offer to become Attorney-General again. Barton's Convention colleague, J.T. Walker, wrote at the time, "Barton is not well off financially, and some of his friends (he has many) are trying to help him. They would not be so ready to do so were he to join Lyne". He resigned from Parliament in February 1900 so that he could travel to London with Alfred Deakin and Charles Kingston to explain the federation bill to the Government of the United Kingdom. Around the same time on 15 January 1900 Barton published a 28-page "United Australia" magazine to disseminate an informative narrative for the propositions of a future Federal Government that he hoped to lead. The British Government was adamant in its opposition to the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council as incorporated in the draft constitution; eventually, Barton agreed that constitutional ("inter se") matters would be finalised in the High Court of Australia, but other matters could be appealed to the Privy Council. Edmund served as a Justice of the High Court for 16 years.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton was appointed prime minister on 1 January 1901, the day on which the new federal constitution came into effect. He and various other dignitaries were driven through the streets of Sydney in a procession watched by thousands of onlookers, beginning in The Domain and ending at Centennial Park. A swearing-in ceremony for the new government was held at the purpose-built Federation Pavilion. The main focus was on Lord Hopetoun, Australia's first governor-general, who swore three separate oaths and read a message from Queen Victoria. Barton and his ministry only took oaths of allegiance, and were not formally sworn in to the Federal Executive Council until later in the afternoon. The events of the day were captured on film and distributed under the title "Inauguration of the Commonwealth", although the visibility of the leading participants is poor. The film has been described as Australia's first feature-length documentary.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton had only been commissioned to form a government one week before he became prime minister, due to what became known as the "Hopetoun Blunder". The new governor-general Lord Hopetoun arrived in Australia on 15 December 1900. He was tasked by the Colonial Office with selecting someone to form a caretaker government prior to the first federal election; this individual would be Australia's first prime minister. It was widely assumed that Barton would be offered the position, and he had begun making preparations for the role, including a draft platform for the first federal elections. On 19 December, however, Hopetoun commissioned William Lyne to form a government. His reasons for doing so have been debated, but his decision was widely regarded as a mistake. Lyne, the premier of New South Wales, had actively campaigned against federation, and the leading politicians in each of the other colonies refused to serve under him. On 24 December, he informed Hopetoun that he was unable to form a government and advised him to send for Barton. As a result, the composition of Australia's first cabinet was not formally announced until 30 December, two days before it was sworn in.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton assembled a ministry that was described variously as a "cabinet of kings", "orchestra of conductors", and "army of generals". It comprised four incumbent colonial premiers (including Lyne), two former premiers, and Barton's key allies Alfred Deakin and Richard O'Connor. Deakin was ranked second in cabinet after Barton and O'Connor would become the inaugural Leader of the Government in the Senate. Only one change was made to the ministry prior to the election, necessitated by the death of James Dickson on 10 January. Barton took on the external affairs portfolio himself and conducted official business through the Department of External Affairs, as there was no prime minister's department until 1911.


title: Edmund Barton

text: The first goal for Barton and his ministry was to retain office at the first federal elections, which were held in late March 1901. His old rival George Reid became the chief opponent of the government during the campaign and the "de facto" opposition leader. There were no national political parties in 1901, but most candidates self-declared as either protectionists or free-traders, following the primary divide in colonial politics. Reid, a free trader, made the tariff issue his primary focus, but its significance was diminished by the fact that the new federal government would have to depend on tariffs for its revenue. Barton instead delivered "an electoral masterstroke" by making White Australia the centrepiece of the government's campaign, thereby attracting many working-class voters concerned about "coloured labour". Supporters of the government won 32 out of the 75 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, with their grouping calling itself the Protectionist Party (or Liberal Protectionists). Barton himself was elected unopposed in the Division of Hunter, having previously represented the area in the New South Wales parliament. The government's continuation was secured by the support of the newly formed Australian Labor Party (ALP), which had 17 MPs. Reid and his Free Trade Party formed the official opposition with 26 MPs. The situation in the Senate was similarly complicated, with the government's position even less secure. However, party discipline was virtually non-existent and Barton was widely seen as having won a mandate to govern.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton outlined his platform for the first federal election at a speech on 17 January 1901, delivered at the West Maitland Town Hall within his prospective electorate. His plans included the establishment of the federal capital, the High Court and the Inter-State Commission, and a "moderately protectionist tariff" in order to raise the revenue to introduce old-age pensions and a uniform postal system. He also promised to introduce universal suffrage for federal elections, build the Trans-Australian Railway, legislate to allow federal intervention in industrial disputes, and ban immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In April 1901, Barton announced that the government would sponsor a competition to design a new national flag for Australia. The winning design was the basis for the current Australian national flag, although Barton personally favoured the existing Australian Federation Flag that had been popular in New South Wales for many years. As it was primarily intended to be used in shipping, the design had to be submitted to the British Admiralty for approval and was not officially adopted until 1903.


title: Edmund Barton

text: An early piece of legislation of the Barton government was the "Immigration Restriction Act" 1901, which put the White Australia policy into law. The Labour Party required legislation to limit immigration from Asia as part of its agreement to support the government, but Barton had promised the introduction of the White Australia Policy in his election campaign. Barton stated, "The doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to the equality of the Englishman and the Chinaman". One notable reform was the introduction of women's suffrage for federal elections in 1902.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton was a moderate conservative, and advanced liberals in his party disliked his relaxed attitude to political life. A large, handsome, jovial man, he was fond of long dinners and good wine and was given the nickname "Toby Tosspot" by "The Bulletin".


title: Edmund Barton

text: For much of 1902, Barton was in England for the coronation of King Edward VII, which was postponed from June to August, delaying Barton's return. Accompanying him on this trip was Sir John Forrest, Minister for Defence, and the trip was also used to negotiate the replacement of the naval agreements between the Australian colonies and the United Kingdom (under which Australia funded Royal Navy protection from foreign naval threats) by an agreement between the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom at the 1902 Colonial Conference. Deakin disliked this arrangement and discontinued it, moving for a substantial expansion of Australia's own navy in 1908. On their way home from the United Kingdom, Barton and Forrest visited Canada, including Toronto, Ottawa (where they were guests of the Governor-General), and the Pacific Coast.


title: Edmund Barton

text: On 24 September 1903, Barton resigned as prime minister to become one of the founding justices of the High Court of Australia. Speculation about his political future had been rife for several months, particularly after the "Judiciary Act 1903" was passed in August. There were several factors at play in his decision to retire from politics. Some within his own party thought that he lacked the energy and commitment to continue as the leader of the government. Barton had also suffered from bouts of ill health, including a fainting spell in his office earlier in the year. He was advised by his doctor to quit active politics. Finally, he had a history of financial difficulties and appreciated the security that a lifetime appointment would bring. The appointment of the new judges was made by the governor-general on the advice of cabinet, many of whom had ambitions of their own and encouraged Barton to accept the post. His appointment was largely uncontroversial, given his role in drafting the constitution, experience as a barrister, and acceptance of a puisne judgeship rather than the position of chief justice.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton was sworn in to the High Court on 7 October 1903, along with his close friends Samuel Griffith and Richard Edward O'Connor; Griffith became the inaugural Chief Justice of Australia. The new justices had worked together in drafting the constitution and habitually lunched together. As a result of their closeness and the small number of cases heard, there were few dissents in the early years of the court.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Deakin succeeded Barton as prime minister, but the government performed poorly at the December 1903 election. The hung parliament allowed Chris Watson and the ALP a chance to form government in April 1904, but it was short-lived and George Reid succeeded Watson as prime minister in August. Later in the year, the court came into conflict with Josiah Symon, Reid's appointee as attorney-general. Symon objected to the judges hearing cases in each of the state capitals, believing the court should sit only in Melbourne and Sydney, and also thought their travelling expenses were excessive. Relations between the government and the court became so strained that the judges contemplated refusing to hear cases, and Barton seriously considered resigning. The situation was only resolved in June 1905 when Deakin returned as prime minister.


title: Edmund Barton

text: The Deakin Government added two extra judges to the High Court in 1906, appointing former attorneys-general H. B. Higgins and Isaac Isaacs. Their elevation brought an adversarial aspect to the court for the first time, as the new judges were political radicals and had not been involved in drafting the constitution. Barton and Griffith formed a conservative bloc, almost always joined by O'Connor. Barton did not dissent from Griffith in the first eight years of the court's existence. In the 44 cases heard by the court from 1904 to 1905 he delivered only 12 separate judgments, choosing to join Griffith's opinion in every other case. Some writers have taken this as indicative of laziness or reluctance to lead the court. However, others have suggested that his lack of separate judgments was not representative of his work ethic and reflected more a general dislike of concurring opinions as liable to complicate the interpretation of rulings.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton served as acting chief justice for nine months in 1913, while Griffith was overseas. The same year saw a major shift in the composition of the court, with two new seats created and a third judge appointed to fill the vacancy caused by O'Connor's death. One of the new judges was Barton's friend Albert Piddington, whose appointment proved controversial due to his political views. He resigned from the court after a month, despite Barton's attempts to convince him to stay. The three vacancies were eventually filled by Frank Gavan Duffy, Charles Powers and George Rich, none of whom had been involved in the drafting of the constitution. As a result, Barton and Griffith increasingly found themselves in a minority on constitutional matters, seeking to preserve the intentions of the framers rather than allow the constitution to evolve. The new judges were also less familiar with the North American federal precedents that the original judges had often relied upon. The influx of new voices contributed to Barton's movement away from Griffith, as he showed "a return of energy and initiative [...] greater independence and at times disagreement" than in his earliest years on the court.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In "D'Emden v Pedder" (1904), the High Court formulated a doctrine of implied immunity of instrumentalities, modelled closely on the American concept of intergovernmental immunity which Barton and the other authors of the constitution had closely studied. The court followed this precedent in "Deakin v Webb" (1904), which was subsequently overturned by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in "Webb v Outtrim" (1906). Barton was angered by the Privy Council's intervention, having always believed the High Court should be the final court of appeal. In personal correspondence he described the 83-year-old presiding judge Lord Halsbury as an "old pig" who did not understand the needs of a federation.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, Barton was the sole judge in "Blundell v Vardon" (1907), where he ruled that Joseph Vardon's election to the Senate was void due to electoral irregularities. He joined with Griffith and O'Connor in the majority opinion in "R v Barger" (1908), "the High Court's most decisive intervention to date in thwarting social reforms passed by the Commonwealth parliament". In a series of cases around the same time, the trio also restricted the powers of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. Barton and Griffith split notably in "New South Wales v Commonwealth" (1915), with the court voting 4–2 to strip the Inter-State Commission of any judicial power, much to Barton's dismay. Only Gavan Duffy sided with his argument that parliament should determine the commission's powers rather than the court. The decision was "a rebuff to Barton's authority as an interpreter of the Constitution and his special authority as one of its draftsman".


title: Edmund Barton

text: During World War I, Barton joined the majority in "Farey v Burvett" (1915), which saw the court adopt a broad view of the federal government's defence power. In "Duncan v Queensland" (1916), he and Isaacs were the only dissenters from the court's interpretation of section 92 of the constitution. With Griffith authoring the majority opinion, the court held that state governments could circumvent the constitution's free-trade provisions simply by banning the movement of goods across state boundaries. Barton expressed a "heavy sorrow" at the court's decision and Isaacs was highly critical. In 1920, after Barton's death, Isaacs led the court in reversing "Duncan", in what became known as the "Engineers' case".


title: Edmund Barton

text: Along with Griffith, Barton was several times consulted by Governors-General of Australia on the exercise of the reserve powers. In 1919, although ill, he was extremely disappointed to be passed over for the position of Chief Justice on the retirement of Griffith.


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton died on 7 January 1920 from heart failure at the Hydro Majestic Hotel, Medlow Bath, New South Wales. He was interred in South Head General Cemetery in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse (see Waverley Cemetery). He was survived by his wife and six children:


title: Edmund Barton

text: Barton refused knighthoods in 1887, 1891 and 1899, but agreed to be appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902, and was invested by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 8 August 1902. (He was the only prime minister to be knighted during his term of office until Robert Menzies in 1963; various others were knighted after leaving the office; Sir Earle Page was already a knight when he briefly became prime minister in 1939.) He received an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from the University of Cambridge in 1900, and honorary Doctor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford and LL.D. from the University of Edinburgh while visiting the United Kingdom in the summer of 1902. He also received the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh during a visit to that city on 26 July 1902.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In 1905, the Japanese government conferred the Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun, and Barton was granted permission to retain and wear the insignia. The honour was presented in acknowledgement of his personal role in resolving a conflict concerning the Commonwealth's Pacific Island Labourers Act and the Queensland protocol to the Anglo-Japanese Treaty.


title: Edmund Barton

text: In 1951 and again in 1969, Barton was honoured on postage stamps bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post.


title: Edmund Barton

text: The Barton Highway near Canberra, Australia was named after Barton. The Division of Barton in New South Wales is named after him, as is Barton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra close to Capital Hill which is the location of many government departments and national institutions, and the headquarters of Australia's main political parties. The Edmund Barton Building is a government office building in that suburb. The Barton College of Deakin University is also named after Barton.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Brian Duignan writes on the "Encyclopædia Britannica" that Postmodern philosophy is a philosophical movement that arose in the second half of the 20th century as a critical response to assumptions allegedly present in modernist philosophical ideas regarding culture, identity, history, or language that were developed during the 18th-century Enlightenment. Postmodernist thinkers developed concepts like difference, repetition, trace, and hyperreality to subvert "grand narratives", univocity of being, and epistemic certainty. Postmodern philosophy questions the importance of power relationships, personalization, and discourse in the "construction" of truth and world views. Many postmodernists appear to deny that an objective reality exists, and appear to deny that there are objective moral values.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Jean-François Lyotard defined philosophical postmodernism in "The Postmodern Condition", writing "Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards meta narratives..." where what he means by metanarrative is something like a unified, complete, universal, and epistemically certain story about everything that is. Postmodernists reject metanarratives because they reject the conceptualization of truth that metanarratives presuppose. Postmodernist philosophers in general argue that truth is always contingent on historical and social context rather than being absolute and universal and that truth is always partial and "at issue" rather than being complete and certain.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Postmodern philosophy is often particularly skeptical about simple binary oppositions characteristic of structuralism, emphasizing the problem of the philosopher cleanly distinguishing knowledge from ignorance, social progress from reversion, dominance from submission, good from bad, and presence from absence. But, for the same reasons, postmodern philosophy should often be particularly skeptical about the complex spectral characteristics of things, emphasizing the problem of the philosopher again cleanly distinguishing concepts, for a concept must be understood in the context of its opposite, such as existence and nothingness, normality and abnormality, speech and writing, and the like.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Postmodern philosophy also has strong relations with the substantial literature of critical theory, although some critical theorists such as Jurgen Habermas have opposed postmodern philosophy.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Many postmodern claims are critical of certain 18th-century Enlightenment values. Some postmodernists tolerate multiple conceptions of morality, even if they disagree with them subjectively. Postmodern writings often focus on deconstructing the role that power and ideology play in shaping discourse and belief. Postmodern philosophy shares ontological similarities with classical skeptical and relativistic belief systems.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: The "Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy" states that "The assumption that there is no common denominator in 'nature' or 'truth' ... that guarantees the possibility of neutral or objective thought" is a key assumption of postmodernism. The National Research Council has characterized the belief that "social science research can never generate objective or trustworthy knowledge" as an example of a postmodernist belief. Jean-François Lyotard's seminal 1979 "The Postmodern Condition" stated that its hypotheses "should not be accorded predictive value in relation to reality, but strategic value in relation to the questions raised". Lyotard's statement in 1984 that "I define postmodern as incredulity toward meta-narratives" extends to incredulity toward science. Jacques Derrida, who is generally identified as a postmodernist, stated that "every referent, all reality has the structure of a differential trace". Paul Feyerabend, one of the most famous twentieth-century philosophers of science, is often classified as a postmodernist; Feyerabend held that modern science is no more justified than witchcraft, and has denounced the "tyranny" of "abstract concepts such as 'truth', 'reality', or 'objectivity', which narrow people's vision and ways of being in the world". Feyerabend also defended astrology, adopted alternative medicine, and sympathized with creationism. Defenders of postmodernism state that many descriptions of postmodernism exaggerate its antipathy to science; for example, Feyerabend denied that he was "anti-science", accepted that some scientific "theories" are superior to other theories (even if science itself is not superior to other modes of inquiry), and attempted conventional medical treatments during his fight against cancer.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Catholic philosopher and semiotician John Deely has argued for the contentious claim that the label "postmodern" for thinkers such as Derrida "et al." is "premature". Insofar as the "so-called" postmoderns follow the thoroughly "modern" trend of idealism, it is more an "ultra"modernism than anything else. A postmodernism that lives up to its name, therefore, must no longer confine itself to the premodern preoccupation with "things" nor with the modern confinement to "ideas", but must come to terms with the way of signs embodied in the semiotic doctrines of such thinkers as the Portuguese philosopher John Poinsot and the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. Writes Deely,


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: The epoch of Greek and Latin philosophy was based on "being" in a quite precise sense: the existence exercised by things independently of human apprehension and attitude. The much briefer epoch of modern philosophy based itself rather on the instruments of human knowing, but in a way that unnecessarily compromised being. As the 20th century ends, there is reason to believe that a new philosophical epoch is dawning along with the new century, promising to be the richest epoch yet for human understanding. The postmodern era is positioned to synthesize at a higher level—the level of experience, where the being of things and the activity of the finite knower compenetrate one another and provide the materials whence can be derived knowledge of nature and knowledge of culture in their full symbiosis—the achievements of the ancients and the moderns in a way that gives full credit to the preoccupations of the two. The postmodern era has for its distinctive task in philosophy the exploration of a new path, no longer the ancient way of things nor the modern way of ideas, but the way of signs, whereby the peaks and valleys of ancient and modern thought alike can be surveyed and cultivated by a generation which has yet further peaks to climb and valleys to find.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Postmodern philosophy originated primarily in France during the mid-20th century. However, several philosophical antecedents inform many of postmodern philosophy's concerns.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: It was greatly influenced by the writings of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche in the 19th century and other early-to-mid 20th-century philosophers, including phenomenologists Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, structuralist Roland Barthes, Georges Bataille, and the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Postmodern philosophy also drew from the world of the arts and architecture, particularly Marcel Duchamp, John Cage and artists who practiced collage, and the architecture of Las Vegas and the Pompidou Centre.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: The most influential early postmodern philosophers were Jean Baudrillard, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jacques Derrida. Michel Foucault is also often cited as an early postmodernist although he personally rejected that label. Following Nietzsche, Foucault argued that knowledge is produced through the operations of "power", and changes fundamentally in different historical periods.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: The writings of Lyotard were largely concerned with the role of narrative in human culture, and particularly how that role has changed as we have left modernity and entered a "postindustrial" or postmodern condition. He argued that modern philosophies legitimized their truth-claims not (as they themselves claimed) on logical or empirical grounds, but rather on the grounds of accepted stories (or "metanarratives") about knowledge and the world—comparing these with Wittgenstein's concept of language-games. He further argued that in our postmodern condition, these metanarratives no longer work to legitimize truth-claims. He suggested that in the wake of the collapse of modern metanarratives, people are developing a new "language-game"—one that does not make claims to absolute truth but rather celebrates a world of ever-changing relationships (among people and between people and the world).


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Derrida, the father of deconstruction, practiced philosophy as a form of textual criticism. He criticized Western philosophy as privileging the concept of presence and "logos", as opposed to absence and markings or writings.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: In the United States, the most famous pragmatist and self-proclaimed postmodernist was Richard Rorty. An analytic philosopher, Rorty believed that combining Willard Van Orman Quine's criticism of the analytic-synthetic distinction with Wilfrid Sellars's critique of the "Myth of the Given" allowed for an abandonment of the view of the thought or language as a mirror of a reality or external world. Further, drawing upon Donald Davidson's criticism of the dualism between conceptual scheme and empirical content, he challenges the sense of questioning whether our particular concepts are related to the world in an appropriate way, whether we can justify our ways of describing the world as compared with other ways. He argued that truth was not about getting it right or representing reality, but was part of a social practice and language was what served our purposes in a particular time; ancient languages are sometimes untranslatable into modern ones because they possess a different vocabulary and are unuseful today. Donald Davidson is not usually considered a postmodernist, although he and Rorty have both acknowledged that there are few differences between their philosophies.


title: Postmodern philosophy

text: Criticisms of postmodernism, while intellectually diverse, share the opinion that it lacks coherence and is hostile to notions such as truth, logic, and objectivity. Specifically, it is held that postmodernism can be meaningless, promotes obscurantism and uses relativism (in culture, morality, knowledge) to the extent that it cripples most judgement calls.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda (c. 543–613) was queen consort of Austrasia, part of Francia, by marriage to the Merovingian king Sigebert I of Austrasia, and regent for her son, grandson and great-grandson.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: In her long and complicated career she ruled the eastern Frankish kingdoms of Austrasia and Burgundy for three periods as regent for her son Childebert II from 575 until 583; her grandsons Theudebert II and Theuderic II from 595 until 599; and her great-grandson Sigebert II in 613. The period was marked by tension between the royal house and the powerful nobles vying for power.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda was apparently an efficient ruler, but this and her forceful personality brought her into conflict with her nobles, the church and the other Merovingians. Her bitter feud with Fredegund, mistress of Chilperic I of Neustria, who murdered Brunhilda's sister, Queen Galswintha (c. 568) in order to replace her as queen, lasted until Fredegund's death in 597. Fredegund had Brunhilda's husband murdered and Brunhilda imprisoned for a period. This feud was continued by Fredegund's son, Chlothar II, who in 613 defeated Brunhilda in battle and had her executed by being pulled apart by four horses.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda was possibly born about 543 in the Visigothic capital of Toledo, the younger of the two daughters of Athanagild and Goiswintha. She was only eleven years old when her father was made king in 554. She was educated in Toledo as an Arian Christian.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: In 567, she was married to King Sigebert I of Austrasia, a grandson of Clovis I, who had sent an embassy to Toledo loaded with gifts. She joined him at Metz. Upon their marriage, she converted to Catholicism.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Sigebert's father, Chlothar I, had reunited the four kingdoms of the Franks, but when he died, Sigebert and his three brothers divided them again. According to historian and bishop Gregory of Tours, Sigebert's marriage to a Visigothic princess was a criticism of his brothers' choices in wives. Instead of marrying a low-born woman, Sigebert chose a princess of education and morals.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: In response to Sigebert's noble marriage, his brother, Chilperic I of Neustria, sent for Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha. Gregory of Tours suggests that he proposed because he envied his brother's marriage to Brunhilda; however, Galswintha ordered him to purge his court of courtesans and mistresses and he soon grew tired of her. He and his favorite mistress, Fredegund, conspired to murder her. In 568 An unknown assailant strangled Galswintha while she slept in her bed and Chilperic married Fredegund.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda so detested Fredegund for the death of her sister—and this hatred was so fiercely reciprocated—that the two queens persuaded their husbands to go to war. Sigebert persuaded their other brother, the elder Guntram of Burgundy, to mediate the dispute between the queens. He decided that Galswintha's dower of Bordeaux, Limoges, Cahors, Béarn and Bigorre should be turned over to Brunhilda in restitution. However, Chilperic did not easily give up the cities and Brunhilda did not forget the murder. Bishop Germain of Paris negotiated a brief peace between them.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: The peace was then broken by Chilperic, who invaded Sigebert's dominions. Sigebert defeated Chilperic, who fled to Tournai. The people of Paris hailed Sigebert as a conqueror when he arrived with Brunhilda and their children. Bishop Germain wrote to Brunhilda, asking her to persuade her husband to restore the peace and to spare his brother. Chroniclers of his life say that she ignored this; certainly Sigebert set out to besiege Tournai. Fredegund responded to this threat to her husband by hiring two assassins, who killed Sigebert at Vitry-en-Artois with poisoned daggers (scramsaxi, according to Gregory). Brunhilda was captured and imprisoned at Rouen.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Merovech, the son of Chilperic and his first wife Audovera, went to Rouen on pretext of visiting his mother. While there, he decided to marry the widowed Brunhilda and thus strengthen his chances of becoming a king. His stepmother, Fredegund, was determined that only her sons should succeed as kings and eliminated her husband's sons by other women. Merovech and Brunhilda were married by the Bishop of Rouen, Praetextatus. However, since Brunhilda was Merovech's aunt the marriage was contrary to canon law.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Chilperic soon besieged them in the church of St Martin on the walls. Eventually he made peace with them, but he took Merovech away with him to Soissons. In an effort to nullify the marriage, Chilperic had Merovech tonsured and sent to the monastery of Le Mans to become a priest. Merovech fled to the sanctuary of St Martin at Tours, which was Gregory's church (who was thus an eyewitness to these events), and later to Champagne. He finally returned to Tours in 578 and when his bid for power failed, he asked his servant to kill him.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda now tried to seize the regency of Austrasia in the name of her son Childebert II, but she was resisted fiercely by her nobles and had to retire briefly to the court of Guntram of Burgundy before obtaining her goal. At that time, she ruled Austrasia as regent. Not being a fighter, she was primarily an administrative reformer, with a Visigothic education. She repaired the old Roman roads, built many churches and abbeys, constructed the necessary fortresses, reorganised the royal finances, and restructured the royal army. However, she antagonised the nobles by her continued imposition of royal authority wherever it was lax. To reinforce her positions and the crown's prestige and power, she convinced Guntram, newly heirless, to adopt Childebert as his own son and heir. This he did in 577. In 579, she married her daughter Ingunda, then only thirteen, to the Visigothic prince Hermenegild, allying her house to that of the king of her native land. However, Hermenegild converted to Catholicism and he and his wife both died in the ensuing religious wars which tore apart the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda ruled Austrasia until Childebert came of age in 583, at the traditional Merovingian majority of thirteen.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: The conflict with Fredegund flared up once more upon the death of Chilperic. Now in the regency in Neustria, Fredegund was in a position to renew the war with her old enemy. Simultaneously, Brunhilda had to deal with her own internal enemies.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Many of the dukes strongly opposed her influence over her son Childebert, the king. Three of them—Rauching, Ursio and Berthefrid—conspired to assassinate Childebert; however, their plot was found out. Rauching was killed and Ursio and Berthefrid fled to a fortress. Upon this, Guntram immediately begged for Childebert, Brunhilda and Childebert's two sons to take refuge at his court. This they did and soon Ursio and Berthefrid were killed. In 587, Guntram, Childebert and Brunhilda settled the Pact of Andelot securing for Childebert the Burgundian succession and a continuing alliance of the two realms of Austrasia and Burgundy for the rest of Guntram's life.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: In that same year, King Reccared I of the Visigoths sent embassies to both Childebert and Guntram, the former accepting them and consolidating an alliance and the latter refusing to see them. Thus, when Brunhilda and Childebert negotiated a marriage for the king's sister Chlodosind with the king of Spain, it was rejected by Guntram and abandoned. In 592, Guntram died and Childebert, per the treaty, succeeded to his kingdom, immediately making war on Clotaire II of Neustria, Chilperic's son by Fredegund. Under Fredegund's leadership, Brunhilda's troops were routed in the 593 Battle of Droizy. Childebert died in 596 at the age of twenty-six.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Upon Childebert's death, Brunhilda attempted to govern Austrasia and Burgundy in the name of her grandsons Theudebert II and Theuderic II. Theudebert became king of Austrasia, and Theuderic, king of Burgundy. Though she attributed the death of Childebert to Fredegund, the latter died in 597 and the direct conflict between her and Brunhilda ended. Peace would elude the Franks, however, for many years more as the conflict raged between the two queens' descendants.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: In 599, Brunhilda's elder grandson, Theudebert, at whose court she was staying, exiled her. She was found wandering near Arcis in Champagne by a peasant, who brought her to Theuderic. The peasant was rewarded with the bishopric of Auxerre, as the legend goes. Theuderic welcomed her and readily fell under her influence, which was now inclined to vengeance against Theudebert. Soon the brothers were at war.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: It is at this point that Brunhilda, now in her later fifties and having survived all the previous tribulations, began to display that ruthlessness which led to her especially violent demise. Brunhilda first took Protadius as lover and, desiring to promote him to high office, conspired to have Berthoald, the mayor of the palace, killed. In 604, she convinced Theuderic to send Berthoald to inspect the royal "villae" along the Seine. Clotaire, in accordance with Brunhilda's bidding, sent his own mayor Landric (a former paramour of Fredegund) to meet Berthoald, who had only a small contingent of men with him. Realising that he had been the victim of courtly plotting, Berthoald, in the ensuing confrontation, overchased the enemy until he was surrounded and killed. Protadius was promptly put in his place.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda and Protadius soon persuaded Theuderic to return to war with Theudebert, but the mayor was murdered by his warriors, who did not wish to fight to assuage the ego of the queen. The man who ordered Protadius' execution, Duke Uncelen, was soon arrested by Brunhilda and tortured and executed. He was not the first ducal victim of the queen's vengeance.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: It was also during these later regencies that Desiderius, Bishop of Vienne (later Saint Didier), publicly accused her of incest and cruelty. Desiderius finally enraged her with a pointed sermon on chastity preached in 612 before her and Theuderic, with whom she then hired three assassins to murder the bishop at the village now-called Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: The successor of Theuderic II was his son Sigebert, a child. The mayor of the palace of Austrasia, Warnachar, fearing that at his young age he would fall under the influence of his great-grandmother, brought him before a national assembly, where he was proclaimed king by the nobles, who then did homage to him ruling over both his father's kingdoms. Nonetheless, he could not be kept out of the influence of Brunhilda. Thus, for the last time in a long life (now in her seventies), she was regent of the Franks, this time for her own great-grandson.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: But Warnachar and Rado, mayor of the palace of Burgundy, along with Pepin of Landen and Arnulf of Metz, resentful of her regency, abandoned the cause of Brunhilda over the young king and joined with her old antagonist Clotaire II, promising not to rise in defence of the queen-regent and recognising Clotaire as rightful regent and guardian of Sigebert. Brunhilda, with Sigebert, met Clotaire's army on the Aisne, but the dukes yet again betrayed her: the Patrician Aletheus, Duke Rocco and Duke Sigvald deserted her and she and her king had to flee. They fled as far as the city of Orbe (in today French Switzerland), hoping to enlist the aid of certain German tribes, but Clotaire's minions caught up with them by Lake Neuchâtel. The young king and his brother Corbo were both killed: thus ended the long and bloody feud between Austrasia and Neustria, and, reuniting the two kingdoms, Clotaire held the entire realm of the Franks.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: The identity of the ten kings comes from the Fourth Book of the "Chronicle of Fredegar". It is usually said to include Sigebert I, Chilperic I, Theudebert II, Theuderic II, Sigebert II, Merovech (Chilperic's son), Merovech (Theuderic's son), Corbo (Theuderic's son) and Childebert (Theuderic's son) and the sons of Theudebert, along with many churchmen, including Desiderius. According to the "Liber Historiae Francorum":Then the army of the Franks and Burgundians joined into one, all shouted together that death would be most fitting for the very wicked Brunhilda. Then King Clotaire ordered that she be lifted onto a camel and led through the entire army. Then she was tied to the feet of wild horses and torn apart limb from limb. Finally she died. Her final grave was the fire. Her bones were burnt.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: One legend has her being dragged by a wild mare down the Roman road "La Chaussée Brunehaut" at Abbeville.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda was raised as an Arian Christian, but upon her marriage to Sigebert, converted to Catholic Christianity. In general, she protected the church and treated Pope Gregory the Great with great respect. He wrote a series of positive letters to her; in 597 he wrote to her about interdicting pagan rites such as tree worship. Gregory of Tours was another favoured cleric; he was a trusted courtier to her and her son from 587 until his death. She also took a keen personal interest in the bishoprics and monasteries within her dominion. This brought her into conflict with Columbanus, abbot of Luxeuil, whom she eventually exiled to Italy, where he founded Bobbio. Brunhilda also played a role in perpetuating the diocese of Maurienne as a suffragan bishopric of the archdiocese of Vienne. In 576, Brunhilda's protector, Sigebert's brother Guntram, had founded the new bishopric at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, separating the Maurienne Valley and the neighboring Susa Valley from the Diocese of Turin. The Bishop of Turin protested this to Brunhilda for more than twenty years, but even when Pope Gregory the Great supported his complaint in 599, Brunhilda dismissed it.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda was buried in the abbey of St. Martin at Autun that she founded in 602 on the spot where the bishop of Tours had cut down a beech-tree that served as an object of pagan worship. The abbey and her tomb [containing bone, ash and part of a wheel] were destroyed in 1793; however two parts of the cover of Brunhilda's sarcophagus are now in the Musée Rolin in Autun.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Brunhilda commissioned the building of several churches and the abbey of St. Vincent at Laon (founded in 580). She is also credited with founding the castle of Bruniquel and having a Roman road resurfaced near Alligny-en-Morvan (where the name of a nearby hill "Terreau Bruneau" is believed to be derived from hers). The part of Mauves-sur-Loire known as "la Fontaine Bruneau" is named after Brunhilda who may have cooled herself with the fountain's water when she suffered heat exhaustion.


title: Brunhilda of Austrasia

text: Many scholars have seen Brunhilda as inspiration for both Brunhild and Kriemhild, two rival characters from the "Nibelungenlied". Kriemhild married Siegfried, who in many respects resembles Sigebert, Brunhilda's husband. There is resemblance between a multitude of characters and events in the Nibelungenlied and those of the latter half of the sixth century in Merovingian Gaul. As Thomas Hodgkin remarks:


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Kraków, Tarnów, Nowy Sącz and parts of Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Kielce and Krosno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province's name recalls the traditional name of a historic Polish region, Lesser Poland, or in Polish: Małopolska. Current Lesser Poland Voivodeship, however, covers only a small part of the broader ancient Małopolska region which, together with Greater Poland ("Wielkopolska") and Silesia ("Śląsk"), formed the early medieval Polish state. Historic Lesser Poland is much larger than the current province. It stretches far north, to Radom, and Siedlce, also including such cities, as Stalowa Wola, Lublin, Kielce, Częstochowa, and Sosnowiec.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: The province is bounded on the north by the Świętokrzyskie Mountains ("Góry Świętokrzyskie"), on the west by "Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska" (a broad range of hills stretching from Kraków to Częstochowa), and on the south by the Tatra,


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: Pieniny and Beskidy Mountains. Politically it is bordered by Silesian Voivodeship to the west, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship to the north, Subcarpathian Voivodeship to the east, and Slovakia (Prešov Region and Žilina Regions) to the south.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: Almost all of Lesser Poland lies in the Vistula River catchment area. The city of Kraków was one of the European Cities of Culture in 2000. Kraków has railway and road connections with Katowice (expressway), Warsaw, Wrocław and Rzeszów. It lies at the crossroads of major international routes linking Dresden with Kyiv, and Gdańsk with Budapest. Located here is the second largest international airport in Poland (after Warsaw's), the John Paul II International Airport.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: The gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 40.4 billion € in 2018, accounting for 8.1% of the Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €19,700 or 65% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 72% of the EU average.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: The region's economy includes high technology, banking, chemical and metallurgical industries, coal, ore, food processing, and spirit and tobacco industries. The most industrialized city of the voivodeship is Kraków. The largest regional enterprise operates here, the Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks in Nowa Huta, employing 17,500 people. Another major industrial center is located in the west, in the neighborhood of Chrzanów (chiefly the production of railway engines) and Oświęcim (chemical works). Kraków Park Technologiczny, a special economic zone, has been established within the voivodeship. There are almost 210,000 registered economic entities operating in the voivodeship, mostly small and medium-sized, of which 234 belong to the state-owned sector. Foreign investment, growing in the region, reached approximately US$18.3 billion by the end of 2006.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: 130,000 students attend fifteen Kraków institutions of higher learning. The Jagiellonian University, the largest university in the city (44,200 students), was founded in 1364 as Cracow Academy. Nicolaus Copernicus and Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II) graduated from it. The AGH University of Science and Technology (29,800 students) is considered to be the best technical university in Poland. The Academy of Economics, the Pedagogical University, the Kraków University of Technology and the Agricultural Academy are also very highly regarded. There are also the Fine Arts Academy, the State Theatre University and the Musical Academy. Nowy Sącz has become a major educational center in the region thanks to its Higher School of Business and Administration, with an American curriculum, founded in 1992. The school has 4,500 students. There are also two private higher schools in Tarnów.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: Located in Southern Poland, Lesser Poland is the warmest place in Poland with average summer temperatures between and during the day, often reaching to in July and August, the two warmest months of the year. The city of Tarnów, which is located in Lesser Poland, is the hottest place in Poland all year round, average temperatures being around during the day in the three summer months and during the day in the three winter months. In the winter the weather patterns alter each year; usually winters are mildly cold with temperatures ranging from to , but the winter season changes often to a more humid and warmer winter, or more continental and cold, depending on the many various wind patterns that affect Poland from different regions of the world. Błędów Desert, the only desert in Poland, is located in Lesser Poland, where temperatures can often reach in the summer.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: Four national parks and numerous reserves have been established in the voivodeship to protect the environment of Lesser Poland. The region has areas for tourism and recreation, including Zakopane (Poland's most popular winter resort) and the Tatra, Pieniny and Beskidy Mountains. The natural landscape features many historic sites. The salt mine at Wieliczka, the pilgrimage town of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, and Kraków's Old Town are ranked by UNESCO among the most precious sites of world heritage. At Wadowice, birthplace of John Paul II (50 kilometers southwest of Kraków) is a museum dedicated to the late Pope's childhood. The area of Oświęcim, with the former Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz-I and Auschwitz-II-Birkenau, as well as the Auschwitz Jewish Center, is visited annually by a million people. Another tourist destination is the town of Bochnia with its salt mine, Europe's oldest.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: The voivodeship contains 4 cities and 58 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2019):


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: Lesser Poland Voivodeship is divided into 22 counties (powiats): 3 city counties and 19 land counties. These are further divided into 182 gminas.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: The counties are listed in the following table (ordering within categories is by decreasing population).


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: Protected areas in Lesser Poland Voivodeship include six National Parks and 11 Landscape Parks. These are listed below.


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: "A traditional Iberian shield gules, an eagle argent displayed armed, legged, beaked, langued and crowned Or."


title: Lesser Poland Voivodeship

text: In February 2020, the French region of Centre-Val de Loire suspended its partnership with the Lesser Poland Voivodeship as a response to the anti-LGBT resolution passed by the voivodeship's authorities. In September 2021, the voivodeships's authorities revoked the controversial declaration.


title: Area denial weapon

text: An area denial weapon is a defensive device used to prevent an adversary from occupying or traversing an area of land, sea or air. The specific method used does not have to be totally effective in preventing passage (and sometimes is not) as long as it is sufficient to severely restrict, slow down, or endanger the opponent. Some area denial weapons pose long-lasting risks to anyone entering the area, specifically to civilians, and thus are often controversial.


title: Area denial weapon

text: In medieval warfare, sharp and sturdy stakes were buried at the bottom of long lines of ditches, pointed end up diagonally, in order to prevent cavalry charges in a given area. Even if the stakes were spotted, soldiers would be forced to dismount and effectively give up their advantage as cavalry as well as becoming easier targets. The correct layout of these extensive lines of ditches and the quality control of stake size, form and placement was part of the craft of war.


title: Area denial weapon

text: A more modern version, allowing quicker dispersal and providing the advantage of being hidden more easily, are caltrops, though items bearing close similarity (small balls with spikes) had been in use for most of antiquity. Many variants were also used, such as boards with metal hooks, as described during battles of Julius Caesar.


title: Area denial weapon

text: Passive fortification—ditches and obstacles such as dragon's teeth and Czech hedgehogs—were used as anti-tank measures during World War II.


title: Area denial weapon

text: Simple rows or clusters of sharpened sticks (nowadays also known as punji sticks), and the use of small caltrops have been a feature of anti-infantry warfare since antiquity. However, due to the difficulty of mass-producing them in the pre-modern age, they were rarely used except in the defense of limited areas or chokepoints, especially during sieges, where they were used to help seal breaches. Increasing ease of production still did not prevent these methods from slowly falling out of favor from the late Middle Ages onward.


title: Area denial weapon

text: Caltrops are still sometimes used in modern conflicts, such as during the Korean War, where Chinese troops, often wearing only light shoes, were particularly vulnerable. In modern times, special caltrops are also sometimes used against wheeled vehicles with pneumatic tires. Some South American urban guerrillas such as the Tupamaros and Montoneros, who called them "miguelitos," have used caltrops to avoid pursuit after ambushes.


title: Area denial weapon

text: The most common area denial weapons are land mines of various types, planted by hand or dispersed by artillery. Some modern prototypes experiment with automatic guns or artillery-delivered ammunitions that are fired only after remote sensing detects enemies.