What does it take for words to create trust in our institutions?
I’m Professor of Communication at the Department of Communication and Culture, BI Norwegian Business School, and a researcher at the Department of Literature and Rhetoric, Uppsala University. I read the rhetorical tradition, from the ancient sophists to contemporary thinkers, against the problems of our time in politics, diplomacy and the economy.
Professor, BI Norwegian Business School
Researcher, Uppsala University
Affiliated Docent in Rhetoric, Södertörn University
Funded by Formas
Current project, 2026–
Sustainable Economies? The Swedish Riksbank and Climate Change
Parliament has asked the Riksbank to take sustainability into account, but the concept is read in different ways as legislation turns into practice. The project examines how the Riksbank understands and communicates sustainable economies, and what that says about the democratic accountability of an independent institution.
Research themes
Populism
Post-truth, demagoguery and the return of the sophist. How democracies argue about who may speak for the people.
Diplomacy
The ambassador as a figure and diplomacy as an ideological state apparatus, from the French Revolution to the digital age.
Economy
The rhetoric of central banks: how economic authority speaks, explains itself, and builds or spends trust.
Selected publications
2023
Populism and the People in Contemporary Critical Thought
Bloomsbury Academic, with David Payne and Gustav Strandberg
Edited volume
Rhetoric for organisations
Rhetoric: seeing through language
Drawing on fifteen years of teaching and research, I design courses, coaching and lectures that help companies, public authorities and research environments see their messages through, and see through them before anyone else does.
Courses and workshops
Tailored training for groups, from a half-day to a series of sessions.
Individual coaching
Preparation for the speech, hearing, interview or defence that matters.
Lectures
Research-based lectures for staff days, seminars and conferences.