The Oxford Handbook of Swedish Politics (Oxford Handbooks)

737 Pages·2018·4.208 MB·English

by  Jon Pierre (editor)

The Oxford Handbook of
S W E D I S H
P O L I T I C S

The Oxford Handbook of
SWEDISH
POLITICS
Edited by
JON PIERRE
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp,
United Kingdom
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Acknowledgments
Coordinating academics is often said to be like herding cats. As a student of public
administration, my first question as I began organizing this project was “how would
Weber have done this?” I was lucky enough to persuade ten colleagues to be editors of
the ten sections. Their commitment to the project has been a definite condition for its
success. I simply could not have done it without them.
A project of the magnitude of a Handbook involves a very large number of people,
each of whom is integral to its success. The list of contributors includes fifty individu-
als. Although they are all busy people, none declined the invitation to join the project. I
was impressed by the collegiality and professionalism with which the contributors and
Section Editors went about preparing their contributions, with Section workshops over
weekends or other meetings to get everything right.
At Oxford University Press, Dominic Byatt’s contagious enthusiasm and support have
been a major source of inspiration. Olivia Wells has sorted out numerous tricky issues
related to texts, tables, and figures; Saipriya Kannan has skillfully managed the project;
and Jess Smith has done an excellent job copyediting the entire text. My sincere thanks
to you all.
Gothenburg, June 2015
Jon Pierre

Contents
List of Figures  xiii
List of Tables  xv
List of Contributors  xvii
Introduction: The Decline of Swedish Exceptionalism?  1
Jon Pierre
SECTION 1 THE POLITICS OF THE
WELFARE STATE
Section Editor: Bo Rothstein
1. Introduction: The Politics of the Welfare State  19
Bo Rothstein
2. Who Loves the Swedish Welfare State? Attitude Trends 1980–2010  22
Stefan Svallfors
3. Political Partisanship and Policy Feedback: The Swedish Welfare
State after Eight Years of Center-Right Government  37
Anders Lindbom
4. The Welfare State and Gender Equality  55
Christina Bergqvist
5. The Moral, Economic, and Political Logic of the Swedish
Welfare State  69
Bo Rothstein
SECTION 2 CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN
Section Editor: Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg
6. Introduction: Constitutional Design  87
Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg
viii Contents
7. Constitutional History  89
Olof Petersson
8. The Election System  103
Jörgen Hermansson
9. The Parliamentary System  115
Tommy Möller
10. The Public Sector and the Courts  130
Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg and Helena Wockelberg
SECTION 3 THE PARTY SYSTEM
Section Editors: Hanna Bäck and Gissur Ó. Erlingsson
11. Introduction: The Party System  149
Hanna Bäck and Gissur Ó. Erlingsson
12. The Party System  152
Nicholas Aylott
13. The Party Organizations  169
Gissur Ó. Erlingsson, Ann-Kristin Kölln, and Patrik Öhberg
14. Political Parties and Political Representation  188
Peter Esaiasson and Lena Wängnerud
15. The Parties in Government Formation  206
Hanna Bäck and Torbjörn Bergman
SECTION 4 ELECTORAL BEHAVIOR
Section Editors: Sören Holmberg and Henrik Oscarsson
16. Introduction: Electoral Behavior  227
Sören Holmberg and Henrik Oscarsson
17. Voter Turnout  229
Richard Öhrvall
18. The Never-Ending Story of Class Voting in Sweden 246
Maria Oskarson
Contents ix
19. Issue Voting Structured by Left–Right Ideology  260
Henrik Oscarsson and Sören Holmberg
20. Swedish Election Campaigns  275
Jesper Strömbäck
SECTION 5 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 
Section Editor: Göran Sundström
21. Introduction: Public Administration  297
Göran Sundström
22. The Swedish Administrative Model  299
Patrik Hall
23. Administrative Reform  315
Göran Sundström
24. The Public Servant  332
Peter Ehn
25. Governing the State  347
Bengt Jacobsson and Göran Sundström
SECTION 6 SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Section Editor: Anders Lidström
26. Introduction: Subnational Government  365
Anders Lidström
27. Municipalities, Regions, and County Councils: Actors
and Institutions  367
Stig Montin
28. Subnational Government in a Multilevel Perspective  383
David Feltenius
29. Challenges and Reforms of Local and Regional Governments
in Sweden  399
Lars Niklasson
30. Swedish Local and Regional Government in a European Context  414
Anders Lidström