Scandinavian countries differ with respect to dissolution powers. In Norway, it is not possible to call early elections, while Danish governments have an almost unrestricted right to dissolve parliament & the dissolution power has been quite frequently used. In Sweden, no early election has taken place after the new constitutions were implemented in 1975. Thus, in practice the dissolution power of Swedish governments are limited. This paper has three main purposes. First, I give an overview of constitutional rules regulating early election in 25 parliamentary countries. Second, I trace some of the effects of unlimited dissolution power in the hands of the minority as well as majority governments. Third, I deal with normative questions. Do convincing arguments support unrestricted dissolution power for parliamentary governments? 4 Tables, 3 Figures, 53 References. Adapted from the source document.
The constitutional development & the parliamentarianism in Sweden since 1970 can schematically be divided into two periods. The first period was 1970-1990. The second was initiated in 1990. 1970-1990 stands out as a 'classical' period to the new constitution with its unicameral system & exact proportional representation above a 4 per cent threshold. The formation of government was mainly based on blocs with sharp opposition, although in combination with negotiating parliamentarianism in the Riksdag. In their years of parliamentary majority, 1976-1982 & 1991-1994, the right-wing patties introduced considerable constitutional changes which the social democrats in opposing position accepted. From 1990 & onwards, it is above all the disrupting EU dimension which generates new constitutional changes concerning the politico-economic institutions. The European influence in legal matters is regulated, as are the EU-processes between government & parliament. Moreover, the electoral period is extended by one year & an element of personalized voting is introduced. Both the vote of censure & the instrument of consultative referendum attain a partially new constitutional character through the development of praxis. One can also identify a series of minority governments (right-wing 1991-1994 & social democratic since 1994) with prolonged partial coalitions grounded on different issues, & with all the parties of the Parliament involved in different areas. The EU dimension is central in this respect too. The constitutional changes, the new form of parliamentarianism & the EU processes strengthen the government. In this period too, questions can be raised regarding the role of the opposition in Swedish parliamentarianism. References. Adapted from the source document.
[Twilight of Swedish social democracy]For fear of a supposedly worse result, the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) greeted the outcome in the Swedish parliamentary election in 2018 as a half victory. SAP's poor support among voters, the lowest since an almost general male suffrage was introduced in 1911, underlines the malaise afflicting social democracy's global flagship. In his article, written before the result of the long government-forming process, Göran Therborn charts the background to the election results by examining the SAP-led neoliberalization of Swedish politics since the early 1980s, and the rise of the far-right party Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden Democrats) as a political force in the wake of recession and refugee arrivals. To this Swedish translation, Therborn has added a short postscript on the latest development after the January agreement in 2019 that led to the formation of a SAP-led minority government.Publication history: A translation of a, by the author, slightly revised and enlarged version of "Twilight of Swedish Social Democracy" in New Left Review, issue 113 2018 (https://newleftreview.org).(Published 15 April 2019)Citation: Therborn, Göran (2019) "Solen går ner över svensk socialdemokrati", in Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys, issue 10, pp. 7–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.10.1 ; Av rädsla inför ett förmodat än sämre resultat hälsade Socialdemokraterna resultatet i det svenska riksdagsvalet 2018 som en halv seger. SAP:s usla stöd bland väljarna, det lägsta sedan en nästan allmän manlig rösträtt infördes 1911, understryker det missnöje som drabbat socialdemokratins globala flaggskepp. I sin artikel, som skrevs före det att regeringsbildningen blev klar, kartlägger Göran Therborn bakgrunden till valresultatet genom att granska den av SAP ledda nyliberala omsvängningen av svensk politik sedan början av 1980-talet, och uppgången för Sverigedemokraterna som politisk kraft i spåren av lågkonjunktur och flyktinginvandring. Till denna svenska översättning har Therborn fogat en kort efterskrift om den senaste utvecklingen efter januariavtalet 2019.Publiceringshistorik: Översättning av en, av författaren, något reviderad och utvidgad version av artikeln "Twilight of Swedish Social Democracy" i New Left Review, nr 113 2018 (https://newleftreview.org).(Publicerad 15 april 2019)Förslag på källangivelse: Therborn, Göran (2019) "Solen går ner över svensk socialdemokrati", i Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys, nr 10, s. 7–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.10.1
