Greetings to all on the new mail-list of the PSA’s Scandinavian Politics Specialist Group,
Hej from Umeå, where the snow has almost gone and has been replaced by rather British weather (http://webcam.educ.umu.se/). I have a few items for your attention.
* FIRST, I’m copying this to several people who might be interested, but who aren’t technically subscribers to the list. In fact, to get round the awkwardness of actually signing up to the Keele-based group list, I’ve decided to replace it with a simple mail list of its existing members, plus a few others. (This means that, if you want to circulate an item, you have to send it to me first.) If anyone does NOT want to receive occasional messages in future, just let me know. I certainly won’t take offence.
* SECOND, I’ve written the Scandinavian Politics Specialist Group’s report for 2003. It’s not the most exciting document that you’ll ever read, but, if you do want to see a copy, just let me know. The document, like those written by the PSA’s 39 other specialist groups, will eventually be posted on the association’s website (www.psa.ac.uk).
* THIRD, I should mention that this report suggests certain ways in which we could use the group’s resources. One is to offer small grants to postgraduates who want to present papers at our PSA conference panels. Another is to offer help with travel expenses to a group member or members who want to take part in a workshop, here in Umeå in August, on the Swedish European election. Your thoughts on these ideas would be appreciated.
* FOURTH, and talking of the European elections, I can report that campaign activity is beginning to get going here. The joker in the Swedish pack is a spin-off from the No side in the referendum campaign, the June List (www.junilistan.nu), which is looking to offer a home to moderately Eurosceptical voters who don’t fancy voting for the Left or the Greens. The other parties are irritated that the List’s candidates have been allowed to state their previous party affiliation (“Social Democrat”, “Christian Democrat”, etc) next to their name on the ballot paper; but opinion polls so far have not been desperately promising for the new group.
That could change, of course, if rapid progress is made on the EU constitutional treaty. The prime minister has made clear that, after last year’s fiasco on EMU, he doesn’t want any more referendums on European matters. Nor do the other parties, bar the Left and Greens. The spectacular British about-turn on this question has so far not had much impact on the Swedish debate.
Anyway, I and some colleagues will be writing a shortish report on the Swedish election to the European Parliament. If anyone else is writing something on the elections in other Nordic countries, please think of giving the other members of the list a sneak preview.
Best,
Nick.
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Dr Nicholas Aylott, research fellow (forskarassistent) Department of Political Science, Umeå University (www.pol.umu.se) convenor, PSA Scandinavian Politics Specialist Group
Please feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested. To join the Scandinavian Politics mailing list, send a message to the convenor (nicholas.aylott@pol.umu.se).
