Jesper is a postdoc at The Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen. His main research interests address the history of democracy, conceptual history, political ideologies and Danish cultural policy. In the dissertation, Et spørgsmål om nærhed, Køber examined the invention of “nærdemokrati” as a political concept and visions of local and participatory democracy in Denmark from the late 1960s. As postdoc at the Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen, and part of the project Danish Library History, he investigated transformations in the Danish public library sector from 1940-2020. Within the project Neoliberalism in the Nordics, Køber explores how neoliberal thinking changed the concept of democracy in Scandinavia.
Key publications:
Vestermark Køber, Jesper & Niklas Olsen (2023), “Privatizing the Welfare State: Danish Libertarianism from the 1980s to the 2000s”, in special issue in Journal of Political Ideologies edited by Jenny Andersson and Niklas Olsen, DOI: 10.1080/13569317.2023.2249646.
A pre-print of the article can be found here!
Jesper Vestermark Køber. Det lille systemskifte. Århus Universitetsforlag (Accepted)
Jesper Vestermark Køber. “Grænser for demokrati.” Slagmark – Tidsskrift for idehistorie, vol. 85. (In press)
Vestermark Køber, Jesper (2022). ”Henning Fonsmark and the reformulation of democracy.” Scandinavian Journal of History. https://doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2022.2086170.
Jesper Vestermark Køber, Niklas Olsen, Heidi Vad Jønsson (eds.) (2021). Citizen Categories in the Danish Welfare State: From the Founding Epoch to the Neoliberal Era. University Press of Southern Denmark.
Jesper Vestermark Køber. ”The Democrat,” in , Jesper Vestermark Køber, Niklas Olsen, Heidi Vad Jønsson (eds.). Citizen Categories in the Danish Welfare State: From the Founding Epoch to the Neoliberal Era. Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2021, 47-66.
Jesper Vestermark Køber. ”Introduction,” in Jesper Vestermark Køber, Niklas Olsen, Heidi Vad Jønsson (eds.). Citizen Categories in the Danish Welfare State: From the Founding Epoch to the Neoliberal Era. Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2021, 9-22.
Jesper Vestermark Køber. ”Socialdemokratisk nostalgi,” Arbejderhistorie vol. 2, 2021, 46-67 .
Et spørgsmål om nærhed – Nærdemokratibegrebets historie i 1970’ernes Danmark, Ph.d. afhandling, Saxo-Instituttet, Københavns Universitet 2017.
”Kampen om nærdemokratiet: Politisk debat og fornyelse i 1970’ernes Danmark”, In: Historisk Tidsskrift, Vol. 118 (2), 2018, 329-371. ”Hvor meget af demokratiet kan reddes?” Theodor Geiger og den danske demokratidebat”, In: Niklas Olsen og Rasmus Mariager (red.): Fra arvefjende til partner. Dansk-tyske forbindelser i det 19. og 20. århundrede, Den Danske Historiske Forening, 2018, 249-271.