The Recent Parliamentary Elections in Sweden

1941 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-108
Author(s):  
Ben A. Arneson

With the tense international situation as an ominous background, the regular quadrennial parliamentary elections for the lower house were held in Sweden in September, 1940. Four years ago, the autumn of 1936 witnessed spirited and warmly contested parliamentary elections in both Sweden and Norway. Because Norway's constitution was amended in 1937 to provide for quadrennial rather than triennial elections, the autumn of 1940 would—save for the German invasion of the Norwegian democracy—have seen nation-wide parliamentary elections in both countries of the Scandinavian peninsula. With Sweden as the only Scandinavian nation remaining free and independent, it has been interesting to note what effect, if any, the tremendous pressures from the surrounding totalitarian states has had on democratic processes in the Swedish state.Over a year ago, the Swedish cabinet was reorganised into a National Cabinet with all leading political parties represented. As the time for the elections approached, some of the minority parties expressed willingness to postpone the contest, even to the extent of ignoring the constitutional provision for quadrennial elections. The remarkable expression of confidence by the smaller parties in the largest party—the Social Democrats—was countered by an equally remarkable stand taken by the leader of the Social Democrats, Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson, who insisted that the democratic processes of a popular election should be continued. The prime minister's view was accepted by all parties, since it was felt by all leaders that in such a time of stress it would be an indication of democratic strength for the parliament to go to the people. All were agreed also that the parties which would, in normal times, be in opposition should continue as vital going concerns.

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens-Uwe Guettel

In his seminalThe German Empire, published in German in 1973, historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler posited that in respect to the German Empire's colonial policies only the SPD, unlike all other political parties, “retained its capacity to take a critical view on matters of principle.” Moreover, in Wehler's view, the SPD's critical stance on this and many other political questions along with the party's massive electoral gains in the 1912 parliamentary elections precipitated a situation in the years immediately preceding the Great War that prompted the German Empire's “old elites” to bet increasingly on a major military conflict to solve the Empire's internal political tensions (“leap into darkness”). Thus in Wehler's view the Social Democrats contributed in no small part to Imperial Germany's perceived domestic crisis, which prompted the infamous “old elites” to choose war over domestic reform in 1914.


2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Millard

The Polish parliamentary elections of 2001 took place in a context of fresh upheavals in the configuration of political parties. The architects of the new electoral law aimed to reduce the seats gained by the social democrats and increase their own. They succeeded in the first aim by a change of electoral formula, forcing the victorious social democratic electoral coalition to seek a third coalition partner. They did not achieve the second aim, as their own failures in government drastically reduced their electoral support and facilitated the breakthrough of populist formations. The result had implications for party development and the composition and workings of both parliament and government. While representation was enhanced by a parliament more accurately reflecting the voters’ choice, the impact appeared potentially harmful to Polish democracy as a whole.


wisdom ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-113
Author(s):  
Gegham HOVHANNISYAN

The article covers the manifestations and peculiarities of the ideology of socialism in the social-political life of Armenia at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. General characteristics, aims and directions of activity of the political organizations functioning in the Armenian reality within the given time-period, whose program documents feature the ideology of socialism to one degree or another, are given (Hunchakian Party, Dashnaktsutyun, Armenian Social-democrats, Specifics, Socialists-revolutionaries). The specific peculiarities of the national-political life of Armenia in the given time-period and their impact on the ideology of political forces are introduced.


2011 ◽  
Vol 162 (4) ◽  
pp. 180-199
Author(s):  
Zbigniew SIEMAK

Political Police in the Second Polish Republic was a secret, specialised service assigned mainly to surveying the whole of political and social life in the country and to chasing perpetrators of anti-state crimes, especially the people suspected of revolutionary activity. In the period discussed, it was completely reorganised four times and it appeared under different names: Political Defence, Information Service, Political Police and Investigation Service with specialised departments to fight against political crimes. In practice, Political Police used methods defined as investigational, e.g. arrests, temporary custody, search of people and property, questioning, chases; and operational ones, e.g. observation, surveillance, tapping or confidential enquiry.Till 1926 political services in Lublin Voivodeship were particularly interested in social and political organisations, the activity of which posed a threat to the legal order and the social arrangement of the state at that time. Full operational surveillance was carried out with respect to parties and political movements of communist nature, national minorities and radical peasant activists, whereas the parties that wanted to keep the bourgeois order were not of particular interest to political counterintelligence, but they were only under discrete operational surveillance.After the May Coup, the range of interests of information services in the fourth district changed substantially. In addition to the activity of communists and national minorities representatives, it encompassed the whole legal Pilsudski opposition.Political Police in Lublin Voivodeship had a very important role in internal politics. It worked among other things on:• exposing social tensions, anti-government atmosphere, revolutionary and anti-state actions (mainly communists and nationalists of national minorities);•observing legal groups and political parties as well as trade unions and parliament representatives.Escalation of political crimes in Lublin district was the largest in those regions where illegal communist organisations, Ukrainian national minorities (poviats: Hrubieszowski, Tomaszowski Chelmski and Wlodawski) and Jewish national minorities (poviats: Chelmski, Siedlecki, Wlodawski, and Grodzki Lubelski) were active.Accusations of communist activity were mainly made against people of Jewish nationality and somewhat less frequently against those of Ukrainian, Belarusian or Polish nationalities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-352
Author(s):  
Oľga Gyárfášová ◽  
Peter Učeň

This article reviews certain trends in popular support for political parties – especially new ones – as they manifested themselves prior to and during the 2020 parliamentary elections. It summarizes the ways in which demand for change was expressed before and during the election through the election results and the data on party supporters. It concludes that the thesis on the radicalization of new generations of party-political challenges in the Slovak polity did not hold true in 2020. The main research question regards the possibility of conceptualizing the rise of two new moderate political parties, PS/Together and For the People, as a counter-mobilization against the previous emergence of radical anti-establishment and anti-systemic challengers within the party system.


Author(s):  
Martin Ejnar Hansen

The formation of Danish governments and their governance continues to be of interest both on their own and comparatively. Minority coalition governments are the norm in Denmark, increasing the importance of support parties for the government to pass its policies. Danish politics can increasingly be seen as two blocs: the ‘red’ bloc led by the Social Democrats and the ‘blue’ bloc led by the Liberals (although it was the Conservatives in the 1980s). This division may have increased the tendency of the presidentialization of Danish politics, not least with the prime minister’s increasing engagement in the day-to-day running of the government, especially with regard to foreign policy. Similarly, the minister of finance is ever more important as well for the day-to-day running of other departments. Ministerial turnover through reshuffles happens during the tenure of most governments, but portfolio redesign mostly occurs when governments are formed. The distribution of portfolios is proportional, but there is much variation in which portfolios parties prefer, with some valuing importance over number of portfolios. Overall, the Danish government and prime minister is a well-researched area, although there is still significant scope for research innovation.


Significance This comes after the sudden resignation of Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner as head of the OeVP, announced on May 10, precipitated a government crisis. His successor as party leader, 30-year-old Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, two days later unilaterally declared the collapse of the grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPOe) live on television, demanding a snap parliamentary election. Impacts Kurz is likely to represent a more critical line on the EU, pushing for reforms. Bad blood between the SPOe and the OeVP could open the door for a coalition with the FPOe even if it incurs losses. As in France, there is a trend towards personality politics in a country where political parties have traditionally been dominant.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-391
Author(s):  
Ismail Bouganour

Mauritania is among the poorest of the world’s nations due, in good measure, to its itinerant Bedouin population that has moved gradually towards urbanization in accordance with the new world order. The country has undergone extensive transformation in the face of international pressure and influence that were brought to bear on it, and their effects have affected the process of transformation, especially those pertaining to the acknowledgement of human rights and freedoms of citizens. The democratic transformation of Mauritania has to be understood in the context of factors interplaying between the social and cultural spheres, in particular the tribal nature of Mauritanian society which, in a de facto sense, designs the roadmap for action on the basis of the citizen’s perpetual tribal affiliation and belonging, as well as the interaction between economic and political reform conforming to economic demands. This study clarifies the democratic transformation that has taken place in Mauritania through particular phases. Although the transformation did not necessarily bring about change in the prevailing political modus operandi of the state, it did, nonetheless, change the balance of the ‘powers that be’ in favour of reform. The latter arose through the role played by political parties that enabled the development of civil society and the possibility for political reforms in future. The study analyses the Mauritanian experience with regard to the success of civil society institutions in furthering their goal of complete reciprocity between the people and their members,  and in placing these issues at the heart of the discussion and achieving pioneering successes.


Author(s):  
Okoko Sinizibe ◽  
Frank Ogbomah ◽  
Kakatei Juanita

The administration of any democratic state revolves around the three constitutionally recognized arms of government; the legislature, executive and the judiciary. Their relationship is very important for the actualization of the goals of the state. However, this relationship is more pronounced between the executive and the legislature as both appear to belong to political parties and are elected by the electorates. Executive/legislative relationship most times appears conflictual and in some cases cooperative. The study examines the executive/legislative relationship in Bayelsa State to determine the nature and the issues and challenges in their relationship during Henry Seriake Dickson administration. To achieve the objective of the study, two research questions were formulated to guide the study. System theory was used as framework for analysis. The study draws its arguments basically from secondary source hence content analysis research design was used to analyze the secondary data. The findings revealed that the executive dominated the legislature in their relationship under Henry Seriake Dickson’s administration which weakened the ability of the legislators to effectively perform their duties as the representatives of the people. It was also revealed that the unprofessional and inexperience of the legislators also affected their ability to effectively perform their duties which affected the social, economic and political development of the state. In the light of the above, the study recommends amongst others that the legislature should wake up to their responsibility as the watchdog of the executive and effectively monitor the activities of the executive in order to ensure good governance in Bayelsa State. More experienced people should be elected to the legislature to curtail the excesses and the continued dominance of the executive on the legislature and other institutions of government.


Subject Cambodia's banned opposition. Significance The National Assembly last month passed an amendment to a law on political parties, enabling the prime minister to request the king to lift court-imposed bans on politicians. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won all 125 seats in parliament’s lower house in last July’s election. The Supreme Court in November 2017 dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and gave 118 senior party officials five-year bans from politics. Impacts Indicted CNRP leader Kem Sokha could receive a royal pardon as part of efforts to appease foreign critics. EU trade sanctions will hit Cambodia’s export-oriented garments industry, threatening Hun Sen’s support base. Increasing Western hostility will push Cambodia further into China’s orbit.


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