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This study examines processes of transnational alliance-building among political parties in the European Union (EU). It is associated with theories of transnational relations, neofunctionalist integration theory and domestic politics approaches to international co-operation and integration. The overall aim of the study is to contribute to the understanding and growth of knowledge of transnational party alliances, thereby expanding the field of party research. The author attempts to fulfil this aim through an in-depth analysis of the hard-won alliance between Conservatives and Christian Democrats in the European Parliament (EP), entered into by the British and Danish Conservatives in May 1992 and renewed after the 1994 European elections. What factors promote, respectively impede, the formation and evolution of a transnational party alliance such as this? A differentiation is made between three categories of process mechanisms by the causal roles they play, namely opportunities, motives and constraints. Factors are addressed under each category. A number of constraining factors on transnational alliance-building among political parties are traced and analysed. The domestic arenas of party politics are brought into the analysis to help us understand alliances in the European arenas. National parties appear to be anxious about their ideological identities and their autonomy, in the sense of freedom of action. Despite the constraints, political parties prove to be keen on entering into transnational alliances for different motives. They strengthen their capacity for action by building transnational channels for access and influence. By striking alliances in the light of threats posed by countervailing forces, they maximise their parliamentary influence. Tracing and analysing opportunities for such alliances, attention is paid to catalysts related to leadership changes, institutional changes and changes in the international environment. The analysis shows that the enhanced powers of the EP have had a major catalytic effect on transnational alliance-building among political parties in the EU. Patterns of informal integration are thereby established in response to changes in formal institutions.

Investigates transnational links between European political parties & political groups in the European Parliament using the party-theoretical conception of arenas developed by G. Sjoblom (1968). Transnational party organizations are conceived as networks with vertical linkages that are amalgams of national subunits, such that party behavior at the European level is determined by negotiation of the interests, concerns, & strategies of subunits in the internal party arena. Analysis of transnational party performance in elections of the European Parliament indicates that they have failed to live up to their role of bringing a transnational dimension to those elections. Moreover, in political negotiations within the European Parliament, it is suggested that the influence of transnational parties has made the Parliament less fragmented but more bipolarized, as consensus is reached only in very large groupings that encompass broad ideological clashes. It is argued that, while the formation of genuine supranational European parties is difficult to predict, the analogy between party organizations of federal political systems & transnational party federations is helpful in making sense of this process. 1 Appendix, 145 References. D. M. Smith

This book explores the interplay between government and media drawing on unique evidence from, and in-depth analysis of, four national cases: Finland, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. Based on the chapters dedicated to each country, five additional chapters address the following cross-national themes: government communication, social media, formality/informality in journalist-source relations, mediatisation of politics, and political communication culture. The book reveals what really goes on between the political executive and the media in everyday practices within these countries. First, it uncovers a process of mediated political-cultural change within media-political systems. Second, it illustrates the work- ings of prime ministerial power and communication aides at this apex of political power and the media and those who work there. Third, it examines both the struggle within governing institutions to control the flow of information and the tensions between civil servants and political aides, and takes the reader through the four media-political con- texts rooted in a deep knowledge of these relationships. The result is an illuminating and original analysis of politics, political communication, media and journalism, and offers greater understanding of the realities of government and democracy and media in practice as well as the role of media within contemporary politics

The Conference on the Future of Europe is a unique deliberative continent-wide experiment, bringing together citizens across the European Union (EU) to discuss its future. At the same time, the Conference is chaired by EU institutions, with the European Parliament (EP), in particular, considerably more supportive of it than most national governments. While designed as a bottom-up forum for listening to citizens, the Conference thus offers an opportunity for Europarties and their EP groups to both engage with their activists and to shape the agenda and debates of the Conference. This report examines how successful the three largest political families or Europarties – the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the centre-left Party of European Socialists (PES), the centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and their EP party groups – have been in shaping the agenda and debates of the Conference. The report addresses three main research questions. First, it explores the avenues and strategies through which the Europarties and EP groups have sought to influence the Conference: coalition-building in the Parliament, and links with the Commission, national member parties, and European political foundations that are linked to the Europarties. Second, it analyses the division of labour or balance of power between and within Europarties and their EP groups relating to the Conference. Third, it assesses the priorities of these partisan actors in the Conference. And, more normatively, it discusses whether 'political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union', as outlined in the EU Treaties, through investigating whether the Europarties 'reached out' to the citizens or at least to their own individual members before and during the Conference. The theoretical framework of the report focuses on the importance of agenda-setting in EU politics and on the strategies of Europarties and the EP groups in previous rounds of constitutional reform. The empirical analysis, drawing on interviews and documents, is divided into three parts. The first examines the inter-institutional bargaining in the run-up to the Conference, the second the actions and strategies of the Europarties and the EP groups before and during the Conference, while the third analyses the positions of the supranational partisan actors in the Conference. The results show how the Conference, like the EU in general, has an important transnational partisan dimension. Europarties, and particularly the well-resourced EP groups, benefiting from decades of experience of Treaty reforms and inter-institutional bargaining, managed to shape the agenda and also the debates of the Conference. These supranational partisan actors clearly prioritized items related to EU democracy and institutions but displayed less effort in reaching out to the citizens. Inside the Parliament the party groups built large coalitions behind resolutions, with group chairs strongly present in the process. Europarties played a much smaller role, while the political foundations were highly active through organising events and producing background material. Content analysis reveals considerable similarity between the institutional objectives, although differences were also found – for example, regarding transnational lists for EP elections. The concluding section summarises the findings and discusses how our study contributes to an understanding of EU democracy and the role of Europarties and EP groups in shaping the future of Europe.

While the position of press secretaries to ministers has become routinized, we still know little about their everyday life in the political executive. This article, based on in‐depth interviews with press secretaries and an inventory of social media use conducted among ministers and press secretaries in Sweden, explores what press secretaries do and the roles and functions they fill. It addresses the overarching question of what it is really like to be government press secretary. It engages with this question through a combination of methods, mapping, and explaining patterns of behavior across related fields and strategic spaces. We argue that existing research and role typologies, while still useful, must be developed by accounting more for how press secretary work changes through new techniques and digitalization. We conclude that press secretaries fill a mix of roles and these are quite stable, but social media impacts on the daily routine of the press secretary and are a part of the work that is difficult or impossible to control. In addition, this study of Swedish press secretaries helps to redress a geographical imbalance in political communication (system) research where the focus usually is on Anglo‐American‐based scholarship and systems.

While the position of press secretaries to ministers has become routinized, we still know little about their everyday life in the political executive. This article, based on in-depth interviews with press secretaries and an inventory of social media use conducted among ministers and press secretaries in Sweden, explores what press secretaries do and the roles and functions they fill. It addresses the overarching question of what it is really like to be government press secretary. It engages with this question through a combination of methods, mapping, and explaining patterns of behavior across related fields and strategic spaces. We argue that existing research and role typologies, while still useful, must be developed by accounting more for how press secretary work changes through new techniques and digitalization. We conclude that press secretaries fill a mix of roles and these are quite stable, but social media impacts on the daily routine of the press secretary and are a part of the work that is difficult or impossible to control. In addition, this study of Swedish press secretaries helps to redress a geographical imbalance in political communication (system) research where the focus usually is on Anglo-American-based scholarship and systems.

How governments manage their communication is one crucial indicator of the balance of power within the cabinet and inside the executive branch as a whole. Existing research offers few insights into the process by which governments come to choose one form of communication over another and about the factors driving centralization. This article addresses this gap through a comparison of two countries, Finland and Sweden, examining not only the organizational forms of government communication but also the causal mechanisms at work. Combining theoretical lessons from studies in political communication, political science, and public administration, it develops a centralization argument, focusing on the centripetal factors facilitating coordination and control. Drawing on over 40 interviews with journalists and political or media advisors in the two countries and on government documents, the article offers clear evidence of a trend toward centralization, particularly in Sweden. This trend should be understood as part of a broader process whereby prime ministers and their offices establish stronger control of the entire executive branch.Related ArticlesHankivsky, Olena. 2013. "Gender Mainstreaming: A Five‐Country Examination." Politics & Policy 41 (5): 629‐655. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12037König, Pascal D., and Georg Wenzelburger. 2014. "Toward a Theory of Political Strategy in Policy Analysis." Politics & Policy 42 (3): 400‐430. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12076Selling, Niels, and Stefan Svallfors. 2019. "The Lure of Power: Career Paths and Considerations among Policy Professionals in Sweden." Politics & Policy 47 (5): 984‐1012. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12325

How governments manage their communication is one crucial indicator of the balance of power within the cabinet and inside the executive branch as a whole. Existing research offers few insights into the process by which governments come to choose one form of communication over another and about the factors driving centralization. This article addresses this gap through a comparison of two countries, Finland and Sweden, examining not only the organizational forms of government communication but also the causal mechanisms at work. Combining theoretical lessons from studies in political communication, political science, and public administration, it develops a centralization argument, focusing on the centripetal factors facilitating coordination and control. Drawing on over 40 interviews with journalists and political or media advisors in the two countries and on government documents, the article offers clear evidence of a trend toward centralization, particularly in Sweden. This trend should be understood as part of a broader process whereby prime ministers and their offices establish stronger control of the entire executive branch.

Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility.

Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility.

This chapter hypothesises that there is a trend of centralisation in government communication – a move upwards in the political executive towards central coordination and control. We test this argument empirically through an inventory of elite interview evidence and a four-country comparison including two case studies – Finland and Sweden – as well as two case illustrations – Lithuania and Poland. Based on, altogether, over 80 interviews with political journalists and political/media advisors or press secretaries in the four countries, the chapter analyses how government communication is structured. The cases of Finland and Sweden offer support for the centralisation hypothesis while those of Lithuania and Poland point out its limitations. We thus conclude that the extent to which government communication is centralised varies across contexts and that the variation is patterned. ; Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility.

This chapter hypothesises that there is a trend of centralisation in government communication – a move upwards in the political executive towards central coordination and control. We test this argument empirically through an inventory of elite interview evidence and a four-country comparison including two case studies – Finland and Sweden – as well as two case illustrations – Lithuania and Poland. Based on, altogether, over 80 interviews with political journalists and political/media advisors or press secretaries in the four countries, the chapter analyses how government communication is structured. The cases of Finland and Sweden offer support for the centralisation hypothesis while those of Lithuania and Poland point out its limitations. We thus conclude that the extent to which government communication is centralised varies across contexts and that the variation is patterned.