Close to, but still out of, government: The Swedish vänsterpartiet

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

Standard

Close to, but still out of, government: The Swedish vänsterpartiet. / Koß, Michael.
Left Parties in National Governments. ed. / Jonathan Olsen; Michael Koß; Dan Hough. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. p. 105-120.

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

Harvard

Koß, M 2010, Close to, but still out of, government: The Swedish vänsterpartiet. in J Olsen, M Koß & D Hough (eds), Left Parties in National Governments. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 105-120. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230282704_7

APA

Koß, M. (2010). Close to, but still out of, government: The Swedish vänsterpartiet. In J. Olsen, M. Koß, & D. Hough (Eds.), Left Parties in National Governments (pp. 105-120). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230282704_7

Vancouver

Koß M. Close to, but still out of, government: The Swedish vänsterpartiet. In Olsen J, Koß M, Hough D, editors, Left Parties in National Governments. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2010. p. 105-120 doi: 10.1057/9780230282704_7

Bibtex

@inbook{311c546db1624c8e8af5f0e998ef0142,
title = "Close to, but still out of, government: The Swedish v{\"a}nsterpartiet",
abstract = "Sweden can be seen as a testing ground for a new form of coalition government called {\textquoteleft}contract parliamentarism{\textquoteright}. Tim Bale and Torbj{\"o}rn Bergman (2006a: p. 422) define contract parliamentarism as follows: {\textquoteleft}in contract parliamentarism, what are formally minority governments (formed by either a single party or a coalition of parties) have relationships with their “support” parties that are so institutionalised that they come close to being majority governments.{\textquoteright} Next to the Swedish Greens (Milj{\"o}partiet den Gr{\"o}na, MP), the Swedish Left Party (V{\"a}nsterpartiet, V) was the main support party of Social Democratic governments between 1998 and 2006. As we shall see in the following, the Left Party, after achieving an all-time electoral high of 12 per cent in 1998, suffered badly at the polls during this period and, indeed, afterwards. Even though Bale and Bergman (2006a, b) analysed contract parliamentarism closely, they paid scant attention to the Left Party. This chapter aims to fill this gap and addresses three major questions: first, why did V end up as a support party rather than a coalition partner? Second, which factors caused the collapse of the Left Party{\textquoteright}s electoral appeal after 1998? Third, how much did this collapse have to do with V{\textquoteright}s role as a support party? In order to answer these questions, this chapter proceeds as follows. After first discussing V{\textquoteright}s background as a Communist party, I provide an overview of the (institutional) context of the Swedish party system. Then I trace V{\textquoteright}s ideological development before, during and after its experience as a support party. The next section discusses the consequences of V{\textquoteright}s support party experience, while the final section provides a brief analysis of the party{\textquoteright}s future prospects. As we shall see, a combination of unfavourable institutional factors and unsolved strategic dilemmas weakened V{\textquoteright}s bargaining power vis-{\`a}-vis its support partner (the Social Democrats). More ominously, on account of the structural changes within the Swedish party system the future prospects of V joining a coalition government are anything but rosy.",
keywords = "Politics, Foreign Policy, Coalition Government, Coalition Partner, Centre Party, Minority Government",
author = "Michael Ko{\ss}",
year = "2010",
month = jul,
day = "16",
doi = "10.1057/9780230282704_7",
language = "English",
isbn = "978-1-349-31458-4",
pages = "105--120",
editor = "Jonathan Olsen and Michael Ko{\ss} and Dan Hough",
booktitle = "Left Parties in National Governments",
publisher = "Palgrave Macmillan",
address = "Switzerland",

}

RIS

TY - CHAP

T1 - Close to, but still out of, government

T2 - The Swedish vänsterpartiet

AU - Koß, Michael

PY - 2010/7/16

Y1 - 2010/7/16

N2 - Sweden can be seen as a testing ground for a new form of coalition government called ‘contract parliamentarism’. Tim Bale and Torbjörn Bergman (2006a: p. 422) define contract parliamentarism as follows: ‘in contract parliamentarism, what are formally minority governments (formed by either a single party or a coalition of parties) have relationships with their “support” parties that are so institutionalised that they come close to being majority governments.’ Next to the Swedish Greens (Miljöpartiet den Gröna, MP), the Swedish Left Party (Vänsterpartiet, V) was the main support party of Social Democratic governments between 1998 and 2006. As we shall see in the following, the Left Party, after achieving an all-time electoral high of 12 per cent in 1998, suffered badly at the polls during this period and, indeed, afterwards. Even though Bale and Bergman (2006a, b) analysed contract parliamentarism closely, they paid scant attention to the Left Party. This chapter aims to fill this gap and addresses three major questions: first, why did V end up as a support party rather than a coalition partner? Second, which factors caused the collapse of the Left Party’s electoral appeal after 1998? Third, how much did this collapse have to do with V’s role as a support party? In order to answer these questions, this chapter proceeds as follows. After first discussing V’s background as a Communist party, I provide an overview of the (institutional) context of the Swedish party system. Then I trace V’s ideological development before, during and after its experience as a support party. The next section discusses the consequences of V’s support party experience, while the final section provides a brief analysis of the party’s future prospects. As we shall see, a combination of unfavourable institutional factors and unsolved strategic dilemmas weakened V’s bargaining power vis-à-vis its support partner (the Social Democrats). More ominously, on account of the structural changes within the Swedish party system the future prospects of V joining a coalition government are anything but rosy.

AB - Sweden can be seen as a testing ground for a new form of coalition government called ‘contract parliamentarism’. Tim Bale and Torbjörn Bergman (2006a: p. 422) define contract parliamentarism as follows: ‘in contract parliamentarism, what are formally minority governments (formed by either a single party or a coalition of parties) have relationships with their “support” parties that are so institutionalised that they come close to being majority governments.’ Next to the Swedish Greens (Miljöpartiet den Gröna, MP), the Swedish Left Party (Vänsterpartiet, V) was the main support party of Social Democratic governments between 1998 and 2006. As we shall see in the following, the Left Party, after achieving an all-time electoral high of 12 per cent in 1998, suffered badly at the polls during this period and, indeed, afterwards. Even though Bale and Bergman (2006a, b) analysed contract parliamentarism closely, they paid scant attention to the Left Party. This chapter aims to fill this gap and addresses three major questions: first, why did V end up as a support party rather than a coalition partner? Second, which factors caused the collapse of the Left Party’s electoral appeal after 1998? Third, how much did this collapse have to do with V’s role as a support party? In order to answer these questions, this chapter proceeds as follows. After first discussing V’s background as a Communist party, I provide an overview of the (institutional) context of the Swedish party system. Then I trace V’s ideological development before, during and after its experience as a support party. The next section discusses the consequences of V’s support party experience, while the final section provides a brief analysis of the party’s future prospects. As we shall see, a combination of unfavourable institutional factors and unsolved strategic dilemmas weakened V’s bargaining power vis-à-vis its support partner (the Social Democrats). More ominously, on account of the structural changes within the Swedish party system the future prospects of V joining a coalition government are anything but rosy.

KW - Politics

KW - Foreign Policy

KW - Coalition Government

KW - Coalition Partner

KW - Centre Party

KW - Minority Government

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85003022387&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1057/9780230282704_7

DO - 10.1057/9780230282704_7

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

AN - SCOPUS:85003022387

SN - 978-1-349-31458-4

SP - 105

EP - 120

BT - Left Parties in National Governments

A2 - Olsen, Jonathan

A2 - Koß, Michael

A2 - Hough, Dan

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

CY - London

ER -

DOI