Dear all,
Three items in this newsletter.
1. PSA CONFERENCE In Manchester in April 2007 (www.psa.ac.uk/2009). The deadline for panel proposals is September 28th - that is, within a fortnight. So far, we've had two suggestions:
(a) "privacy-related" issues, epitomised by the ongoing broughhaha in Sweden over the proposed surveillance law (see below);
(b) "ethics and Nordic military policy".
If anyone would be interested in presenting a paper related to one of these topics, let me know, and I'll put you in touch with the relevant person.
2. NEW BOOK on Swedish social democracy. One of the members of this list, Dimitris Tsarouhas. now of Bilkent University (dimitris@bilkent.edu.tr), has produced this book, published by IB Tauris (www.ibtauris.com). The publisher's website summarises Social Democracy in Sweden thus:
"What is the future of social democracy in the age of globalization? The Swedish model, long the paradigm for socially responsible capitalism, was pronounced dead in the 1990s, but a new Swedish model has emerged and is thriving. Europeanisation and globalization were expected to erode social democracy, placing limits on the power of organized labour to negotiate with capital. Here Dimitris Tsarouhas shows why and how this did not happen. Tracing the emergence of the original model to its institutional and political origins, he garners rich empirical evidence to show the resilience of the fundamental nature of Swedish social democracy in the face of changing policies, institutions and labour relations. 'Social Democracy in Sweden' is an important reassessment of European social democracy and the impact of globalization."
I'm sure this will be of interest to a lot of other members of our list.
3. BRIEF REVIEW OF RECENT NORDIC POLITICS.
* The centre-right Swedish government, having got to half way in the parliamentary term, must be wondering how it allowed defence and security to dominate the political agenda. It is still far from certain that its surveillance (FRA) law will get through parliament (which reopens tomorrow), such is the unease among the coalition's backbenchers. Then, last week, perhaps in the light of foreign minister Carl Bildt's eyebrow-raisingly hawkish response to Russia's behaviour in the Caucasus, the government decided to review its much-criticised defence policy.
Meanwhile, the three left-of-centre opposition parties are still miles ahead in the polls. Recently, Social Democratic leader Mona Sahlin confirmed the widely held assumption that, if possible, her party will return to office after the next election in coalition rather than alone. Whether that coalition would include both the Left Party and the Greens, or just the Greens, is still unclear, however - and this may prove to be the current government's last trump card. The Left's leadership wrote an uncompromisingly radical article on economic policy last week that makes it hard to see a basis for a deal with the other two parties.
* The war in Georgia has prompted mixed but generally more measured reactions in Finland. The authors of a parliamentary report on national security policy, which in the summer dismissed the idea of a military threat to Finland from Russia, told Hbl last week that nothing had happened to change their opinion.
* In Norway, the Progress Party is making ever more progress in the opinion polls, to the extent that it is now talking about what it would do in government after the next election, in autumn 2009. Its governing prospects are hindered by the refusal of Christian Democrats to contemplate joining it in a coalition, and of the Liberals even to consider passively supporting a government that included Progress. But some Conservatives are tempted by the idea of coming to an arrangement with Progress. And the party's leader, Siv Jensen, has even mooted the idea of its forming a single-party minority government, even if it could only survive a short time.
* As usual, however, it's been Denmark where politics has been liveliest. (Thanks to Jacob Christensen and Flemming Juul Christiansen for their thoughts on a draft of the following resumé.)
Last week Bendt Bendtsen stepped down as Conservative leader, minister of the economy and commerce, and deputy prime minister (he will now run for the European Parliament). After a unanimous vote in the Conservative parliamentary group, he was replaced in all three roles by Lene Espersen, minister of justice for the last seven years. The latest opinion polls do not suggest that the move has given the Liberal-Conservative coalition a shot in the arm, which is what it needs.
One of its difficulties was caused by the uncertainy about the future of the Lisbon treaty, which forced the government to shelve its plans for referendums on scrapping some or all of the exemptions that Denmark has from some EU policy areas. More serious has been the challenge posed over the summer to the government's flagship policy, on immigration, by the European Court of Justice, which has been aggravated by the poor management of the issue by Birthe Rønn Horbech, the integration minister, and her department.
Another problem is the historic agreement, concluded a month or so ago, in which the Socialist People's Party agreed a shadow budget proposal with the Social Democrats. This agreement makes a coalition between these two parties, and probably also the Social Liberals, that much more likely. The Socialist People's Party's office-seeking course, which has involved much more centrist positions (by Danish standards) on, especially, economics and ethnic-minority integration, has won it big rewards in the opinion polls. Some of its own leading figures are less enthused, though.
Finally, New Alliance, which won parliamentary seats for the first time in 2007, has tried to draw a line under months of disastrous infighting and defections by changing its name, to Liberal Alliance, and its policies, also in a liberal direction. However, its support in opinion polls remains almost non-existent. More on these and other issues in Danish and Nordic politics can be found on Jacob Christensen's excellent blog (jacobchristensen.name).
Best,
Nick Aylott.
--
Dr Nicholas Aylott, senior lecturer (docent) in political science
School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College, Stockholm
SE-141 89 Huddinge, Sweden
www.sh.se/samhallsvetenskaper
