The New Populism and the New Politics: New Protest Parties in Sweden in a Comparative Perspective

222 Pages·1996·21.632 MB·English

by  Paul A. Taggart (auth.)

THE NEW POPULISM AND THE NEW POLITICS
The New Populism and
the New Politics
New Protest Parties in Sweden in a
Comparative Perspective
Paul A. Taggart
Lecturer in Politics
University of Sussex
First published in Great Britain 1996 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-13922-4 ISBN 978-1-349-13920-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-13920-0
First published in the United States of America 1996 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-16204-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Taggart, Paul A.
The new populism and the new politics: new protest parties in
Sweden in a comparative perspective / Paul A. Taggart.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-16204-7 (cloth)
1. Political parties—Sweden. 2. Populism—Sweden. 3. Political
parties—Europe, Western. 4. Populism—Europe, Western. I. Title.
JN7995.A1T34 1996
324.2485'08—dc20 96-10525
CIP
© Paul A. Taggart 1996
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London W1P9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96
For Bhavna
Contents
List of Tables viii
List of Figures x
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction 1
2 The New Populism and the New Politics 11
3 The Decline of the Postwar Settlement and the Rise
of the 'New1 Protest Parties 47
4 A Tendency to Differ: New Party Elites 82
5 Organising Anti-Parties 110
6 Constituencies of Protest 148
7 Tracing the Contours and Mapping the Future 177
Appendix: List of Interviewees 187
Notes and References 188
Bibliography 191
Index 210
vii
List of Tables
2.1 Number of years of cabinet membership of social
democratic parties in Western Europe, 1948-1988 14
2.2 Social welfare expenditures as percentage of total
government expenditure, 1960-1985 16
2.3 New Politics Parties in Western Europe 30
2.4 Electoral highlights of New Populist and Neo-Fascist
Parties in Western Europe 42
3.1 Levels of New Politics mobilisation 49
3.2 Levels of New Populist mobilisation 50
3.3 Rank ordering of Welfare State in terms of combined
de-commodification, 1980 52
3.4 Levels of postindustrialism, 1988 56
3.5 Relative economic strength, 1988 60
3.6 Average number of parties represented in the legislature
per year, 1948-1988 69
3.7 Factors influencing 'New' Protest Party mobilisation
(countries clustered by New Populist mobilisation) 72
3.8 Factors influencing 'New' Protest Party mobilisation
(countries clustered by New Politics mobilisation) 74
4.1 Ideal types of New Party activists 87
4.2 Seats won in Riksdag after 1988 and 1991 Elections 97
4.3 Party activists in the Green Party 103
4.4 Party activists in New Democracy 103
5.1 Direct membership of Swedish smaller parties, 1981-88 134
6.1 Percentage of national vote for five major parties in
Sweden, 1964-1994 150
6.2 Support for partisan blocs in Sweden at parliamentary
elections, 1948-1994 151
6.3 Elections to the Swedish Riksdag, 1988-1994 154
6.4 Age characteristics of Swedish voters for the Green
Party (Mp) and New Democracy (ND), 1991 156
6.5 Male and female voting for the Greens (Mp) and New
Democracy (ND), 1991 157
6.6 Percentage of the party vote taken by New Democracy
and the Green Party by age groups and gender 158
6.7 Education and voting for the Greens (Mp) and New
Democracy (ND), 1991 159
viii
List of Tables ix
6.8 Family class of voters for the Greens (Mp) and New
Democracy (ND), 1991 160
6.9 Percentage of the party vote taken by New Democracy
and the Green Party by class groups and gender 161
6.10 Residency of voters for the Greens (Mp) and New
Democracy (ND), 1991 162
6.11 Occupation of voters for the Greens (Mp) and New
Democracy (ND), 1991 163
6.12 Sector and type of work of voters for the Greens
(Mp) and New Democracy (ND), 1991 164
6.l3 National level party vote as percentage of local level
party vote, 1991 166
6.14 Party vote in 1991 as percentage of party vote in 1988 168
6.15 Prior voting record (1988) of New Democracy and
Green voters in 1991 including non-voters 168
6.16 Support for the Danish Progress Party by education
compared with New Democracy 172
6.17 Social basis of Ecology activists in Milan compared
with the general population in Milan 174
List of Figures
2.1 'New' Protest Party comparisons 45
3.1 New Populist mobilisation and Welfare State
de-commodification, 1980 53
3.2 New Politics mobilisation and Welfare State
de-commodification, 1980 54
3.3 New Populist mobilisation and postindustrialism 58
3.4 New Politics mobilisation and postindustrialism 59
3.5 New Populist mobilisation and economic strength 61
3.6 New Politics mobilisation and economic strength 62
3.7 New Populist mobilisation and party system
cartelisation 66
3.8 New Politics mobilisation and party system
cartelisation 67
3.9 New Populist mobilisation and system openness 70
3.10 New Politics mobilisation and system openness 71
3.11 New Politics mobilisation and New Populist
mobilisation 75
x
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the help and support
of a large number of people. The members of the Green Party and
New Democracy in Sweden who agreed to be interviewed proved them
selves to be generous with both their time and their thoughts, and, at
the same time, proved the advantages of conducting research in a country
which values accessibility in its political system. The hospitability, help
and humour of David and Eva Hynes made the interviews in Stock
holm a real pleasure. The research and writing owe much to the help
and support of colleagues at the Department of Political Science and
the West European Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh
and the Politics and School of Social Science faculty at the University
of Sussex. In particular I would like to record my thanks to Alberta
Sbragia, David Patrick Houghton, Anthony Zito, Francis McGowan and
B.D. Graham who all, in their own ways, taught me things I probably
should already have known and consequently eased the process of writing
for me. The Department of Political Science at G6teborg University
put up with me as a visiting researcher in Sweden and my thanks
there go to Mikael Gilljam, Martin Bennulf and S6ren Holmberg for
giving me help and access to the electoral data. Part of Chapters 2
have appeared as 'New Populist Parties in Western Europe' in West
European Politics, 18 (1995) and I am grateful for their permission to
reproduce those parts here. Sharing something of the same process
meant that Helen Thompson was a constant source of reference and
advice. Without the help, friendship and support of Jon Pierre, this
book would not have left the launch pad. B. Guy Peters was instru
mental in helping to clarify my own thinking and his unflagging sup
port and encouragement throughout was far more important to me than
he realised. Without doubt, Anders Widfeldt has contributed most to
the content of this book with his unceasing help, hospitality, enthusi
asm, thoughtfulness and friendship and I am deeply endebted to him.
Those who know me know that it is Bhavna Sapat who is behind all I
do and who has taken on board the costs associated with the comple
tion of this book. It is to her that I, without question and with love,
dedicate this book.
Brighton PAUL TAGGART
Xl