debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
The state occupies a central place in social democratic thinking. It is the vehicle through which policies are delivered. Indeed, it is no coincidence that the growth of the modern state was a forerunner of the social democratic movement. Today, it is impossible to think about social democracy without considering the role of the state. But the relationship is not without [...]
As the dramas surrounding the Euro-area crisis subside, at least temporarily, are we witnessing the birth pangs of potentially new pan-European politics which could yet transform European Union governance and lay the foundations for genuine EU demos? Public attention has thus far focussed almost exclusively on the bewildering and arcane details of the financial crisis, [...]
Yesterday, the Swedish Social Democrats’ party secretary, Carin Jämtin held a brief press conference where she announced that the party’s executive committee would submit a proposal on an acting party leader to the party board meeting on Friday. The former party leader, Håkan Juholt resigned on Saturday. According to Västerbottens Folkblad sources, the president of the trade [...]
At a brief press conference on Saturday afternoon, Håkan Juholt declared his resignation after only ten months as party leader of the Swedish Social Democrats. He was elected in a turbulent time after the disastrous election results of 2010 following which Mona Sahlin announced her resignation as party leader. Juholt’s time as party leader was [...]
The semi-annual party preference survey from Statistics Sweden (SCB) shows that a general election in November would give the centre-right government parties (C + FP + M + KD), 48.4 percent of the vote. The centre-left parties (S + V + MP) would get 44.6 percent. The xenophobic Sweden Democrats would get 5.7 percent. Party [...]
Support for the Euro in Sweden is below ten percent and thereby at a historical low point. The opposite is true for the opposition to a Swedish membership in the Euro that is now reaching new highs at 88 percent. This according to an opinion poll conducted by Skop. According to the survey conducted in [...]
“People are not commodities”, says one of the key principles of Social Democratic policy. The Greens say that nature is not a commodity. The Christian Democrats agree with both, with some variations. In the case of green policies, the principle of decommodification — limiting the influence of the market on a given area — is [...]
Saturday’s Latvian parliamentary election was a success for the centre-left coalition, the Harmony Centre, which became the largest parliamentary group with 32 of the 100 seats in the Saeima. Harmony Centre is a coalition between the Social Democratic Party Harmony (SDPS) and the Socialist Party (LSP) and has in particular its support in the Russian-speaking minority. Despite the electoral success, it is unlikely that they will get seats in the government. 13 parties participated in the elections and five passed the five percent threshold: Party Election [...]
Everything indicates that Denmark will get a centre-left government after the elections on Thursday. The four parties that now belong to the opposition – Social Democrats, Socialist People’s Party, Social Liberals and Red-Green Alliance – get 91 of the Danish Parliament’s 179 seats in an opinion poll commissioned by the news agency Ritzau. But while [...]
In the Danish business newspaper Børsen, we read that there are major differences in opinion polls before the election September 15. In Voxmeter’s survey, there is an extended lead for the centre-left, 98 seats against the centre-right’s 77 seats. In Megafon’s survey the other hand, there is only 90-85 in the allocation of seats to [...]
The local elections in Norway and the parliamentary elections in Denmark are fast approaching. And current polls show that the gap is decreasing the closer we get to the election days. In Norway, which has local elections on September 12, it is now clear that the wave of sympathy that carried the Labour Party in [...]
Last week The Swedish National Institute of Economic Research (Konjunkturinstitutet) presented the monthly economic barometer for August. It is not an uplifting reading. It shows that both business and consumer confidence has been falling sharply over the summer and is now at its lowest level since 2009. Growth has slowed down and Sweden seems to [...]
All Content