2008-02-06

Scandinavian Politics: Danish New Alliance near collapse and PSA Conference 2008

Dear all on the Scandinavian Politics list,

Two items.


1. First, here's a reminder from the local organiser about registration for the PSA conference.

-------- Ursprungligt meddelande --------
Ämne: PSA News PSA Conference 2008
Datum: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 23:03:39 -0000

We are approaching a key deadline in registration for the 2008 Political
Studies Association Annual Conference at Swansea University 1-3 April.
You need to register by Monday 15 February. Registration after that
time will incur a £40 surcharge and no guarantee of on-site
accommodation. You are strongly urged to register as soon as possible.
Please go to the conference website at www.psa.ac.uk/2008
and you can either register on line from the
registration page or download a registration form and send by post.

We look forward to seeing you in Swansea in April.

----------------------------------------

2. Meanwhile, Danish politics just gets more and more dramatic.

You'll recall that on Jan 22nd this newsletter described a tense parliamentary situation for the government over asylum policy, caused by the resignation of a former Conservative leader from that party's parliamentary group. In the event, the government was let off the hook by parliamentary debutants New Alliance. Its MPs, facing political death in any new election, agreed to a compromise with the governing majority. But this had knock-on effects.

First, one of New Alliance's MPs and founders, ex-Conservative Gitte Seeberg, refused to accept that her party could reach a deal that included the government's support party on the far-right, the Danish People's Party. After all, marginalising the Danish People's Party had been one of New Alliance's primary objectives. She resigned from the party last week. That was bad enough for New Alliance. Yesterday it got worse. One of its more glamourous MPs, Malou Aamund, not only resigned from the party, she also joined the Liberals.

After this latest round of parliamentary musical chairs, the Liberals, Conservatives and the Danish People's Party have their parliamentary majority back, and New Alliance looks - to quote Jacob Christiansen at Umeå University - well and truly doomed.


Best,

Nick Aylott.
--
Dr Nicholas Aylott, senior lecturer (docent) in political science
School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College
SE-141 89 Huddinge, Sweden
www.sh.se/samhallsvetenskaper

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