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Lawyer Johan Höök appointed guest professor in Moa Martinson’s name

19 March 2026

Karin Midner

The Centre for Municipal Strategic Studies will be strengthened with expertise in municipal law and legislative work. From autumn 2026, Johan Höök will serve as a guest professor for two years, contributing expertise from his professional work.

The lawyer Johan Höök is an expert in municipal law and has been an associate professor (docent) of public law since 2016, he will be the next guest professor in the name of Moa Martinson at Linköping University.

Höök earned his PhD in 2000 with a dissertation on the relationship between politics and public administration, Internal Allocation of Competences within Municipalities (Intern kommunal kompetensfördelning).

“I was extremely happy and flattered to be asked. It feels very honourable that Linköping University believes I can contribute an exciting perspective to their work. I think that it is far too few people that move between the academic world and what might be called the ‘ordinary’ world. It is refreshing that LiU dares to think outside the box in this respect.”

Sharing knowledge with municipal leadership

Johan Höök has extensive experience working with municipal law issues within the Swedish Government Offices and has been responsible for several government bills in the field of municipal law. He has also served as head of the unit for municipal legislation at the Government Offices. For this reason, his placement at LiU’s Centre for Municipality Studies (CKS) is a natural fit.

It will be extremely rewarding to work with the researchers at CKS. I believe I will learn a great deal from being part of this environment. I will have the opportunity to delve deeply into issues in a way that I rarely have time for in my regular job.

En man i kostym och glasögon ler.
He has substantial experience of engaging with and disseminating knowledge among municipal leadership, which constitute CKS’s primary target group. His expertise aligns well with several of CKS’s ongoing projects, and LiU emphasises that his legal expertise in municipal law will be of great value to the centre.

“Being a guest professor for two semesters will give me the opportunity to return to the academia to conduct research and teaching over a longer, uninterrupted period. I hope that my practical experience will serve as an important asset, allowing me to contribute new perspectives to research in the field of municipal strategy.”

Collage with two black-and-white photos. On the left, Tage Danielsson in a tuxedo smiling at the camera. On the right, Moa Martinson at her desk with a pen in hand.

Professorships in the humanities and social sciences

The Moa Martinson and Tage Danielsson professorships at Linköping University are intended for researchers in the humanities and social sciences, or those productive in the arts.

Facts

About Johan Höök

He served as a special investigator in the government inquiry A Local Government Act for the Future (2015), which formed the basis of the 2018 reform of the Swedish Local Government Act. He has broad experience in investigating municipal law issues in other contexts as well. Among other roles, he was principal secretary to the Welfare Inquiry (2017) and secretary to the Municipal Inquiry (2017).

He currently serves as a judge at the Administrative Court in Uppsala. Alongside this role, he has remained an active voice in legal and public debate by regularly publishing articles in Förvaltningsrättslig tidskrift, Juridisk tidskrift and Europarättslig tidskrift, as well as chapters in edited volumes and similar publications (more than twenty in total), and by teaching municipal law to practitioners.


Centre for Local Government Studies (CKS)

CKS focuses on questions and challenges of major importance for local municipalities. The main purpose is to generate knowledge through research, support, evaluation and seminars.

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