Chronicles/analysis

The rise of Authoritarian Capitalism

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-01-06 | 4 comments

Despair spreading among the governing parties

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-01-16

The centre-right Alliance, consisting of the four parties that currently holds the government, is having a tough time. The latest poll has enhanced the sense of hopelessness that already was present...

A foreign student´s story: Part I

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-01-25 | 7 comments

Ziaul Hasan will in a series of chronicles, share his personal experiences of the life as a foreign student in Sweden. In this first part he describes...

A foreign student´s story: Part II

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-02-10 | 1 comment

In the second part of his chronicle series, Ziaul Hasan writes about the trip from Pakistan and his first meeting with Sweden and his new hometown.

Fraudulent votes when the parties are in charge

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-02-17 | 1 comment

It´s seven months before the general election. Two Stockholm politicians from the Moderate party have had to resign from party commitments on grounds of suspected fraud in the party´s internal elections. Another 50 moderate politicians are investigated. Also in other parties are there allegations about rigged internal elections for the party lists....

Is there a need for international observers at the Swedish election?

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-02-24 | 1 comment

Is the Swedish electoral system fair or are there shortcomings that disfavor smaller parties? The question is asked in the Danish newspaper Politiken by Birgitta Wistrand, Swedish researcher and former parliamentarian and Jørgen Elklit, Danish political scientist.

The rise of conservative ideas in Sweden

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-03-09

During the last years and even more the last weeks, a debate about conservatism and mainly among conservatives has evolved in Sweden. It may seem that the revival of conservatism is somehow odd, since the cultural and political debate in Sweden is mainly going on between different kind of liberals, (social liberals and classical liberals for example) and different kind of socialists. Conservative views have been almost non-existent or marginalized in the central debates.

Lars Vilks Cartoon

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-03-13 | 18 comments

Critique Muhammad’s teachings on its own merits, avoide measures that only befit extremists. Sardar Anees Ahmad, Chairman of the Muslim Writer´s Guild of America, comments on...

About right and left in housing

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-03-17

Have you often seen the headlines "Housing...

Is the Industrial Agreement saved?

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-03-29

Last week two of the trade unions inside the Swedish engineering industry negotiated and reached a wage-agreement with The Association of Engineering Industries (Teknikföretagen).

Less focus on economic issues: good for Sweden democrats

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-04-08 | 3 comments

Swedish politics has always been special in many aspects. Firstly the long and dominant social democratic party that won almost every election from the early 1930:s until the early 2000:s. The second main feature is the high participation in the elections, higher than the average in almost every other democracy in the world. The third main feature was the dominance for economic issues that divided the left from the right in politics. Even if the fundamental differences were quite small between left and right in issues of taxes, welfare and subsidies to different groups, the debates in election campaigns allocated a vast part to such issues.

Increased optimism in the economy

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-04-29

This morning came figures from the National Institute of Economic Research (NIER) confirming the picture of a strong and...

The Industrial Agreement trashed – What´s next?

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-05-02

In this analysis, Dr. Henrik Lindberg from the research institute Ratio...

Opposition presents budget; but how much do they differ from the government?

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-05-03 | 3 comments

Minister for Finance Anders Borg and the Social Democratic spokesperson for economy Tomas Östros met each other in a debate in the Swedish television last night, and today the opposition presented...

Swedish economy strong, but ill-prepared

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-06-08 | 2 comments

Sweden seems to have left the recession behind. But at the same time do many European states risk full-blown financial crises. What if that would spread, or if the world economy suffers a double-dip?...

Time for the yearly "political week" in Gotland

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-06-30

On Sunday a week of political activity will break out on the island Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The...

Charismatic and tactical but lack of visions

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-05

In the political week´s first day, Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister and party...

Visions but no financing in Left Party´s speech

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-06

Yesterday it was the Left party’s chairman Lars Ohly’s turn to speak during the political week ("the...

Labour unions: another kind of foreign aid

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-08

Sweden is one of the most generous countries in the world when it comes to foreign aid. But in Sweden there are also alternative non-governmental organisations that are active in foreign aid in a...

Centre party leader full of fighting spirit

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-08 | 1 comment

Maud Olofsson from the Centre Party (Green-liberal) was the fourth party leader to speak in the political week in Visby. It was a party leader burdened with bad opinion polls and rumours of her resignation. In this nervous situation Olofsson stepped forward and made a speech full of energy and passion.

Traditional Social Democratic speech by Mona Sahlin

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-09

The leader for the red-green opposition and chairman for the Social Democrats,...

A Swedish sex scandal

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-12

So far we do not know who is telling the truth in “The Littorin Affair”. Did the Minister for Employment, Sven-Otto Littorin, resign due to strong political and personal pressure, or because he is...

"We want to modernise Sweden"

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-13 | 6 comments

The Green Party had the seventh and final speech in the political week in Visby....

A trip to the north, part one

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-28

The world’s largest under ground iron ore mine in located in Kiruna in north Sweden. The mine is extremely profitable. LKAB, the state owned company which runs the mine, is expected to show a SEK 10 billion (1 billion euro) profit in 2010. Stockholm News has paid a visit to the mine.

A trip to the north, part two

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-07-28

Kebnekaise is the highest mountain in Sweden (2106 metres). I was there last Sunday. The view is magnificent, one actually see almost ten percent of the Swedish territory from there providing the...

Alliance victory in 2010 – if no surprises occur

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-08-22

The one million dollar question of these weeks until the parliamentary election next month is of course – which side will win? The redgreen parties or the Alliance? In the last weeks the former redgreen lead in the polls turned upside down and now the Alliance is back in control again after almost 4 years. But polls may turn and these are not part of my analysis. Speculations are frequent these days. Lets therefore take a more scientific view and first judge what factors that makes voters attracted to and voting for a certain party.

The Sweden picture abroad: A success story?

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-08-28 | 6 comments

What is the general picture of Sweden abroad? Is it a result of Swedish lobby organisations or the historical performance of Sweden as a country? These issues were discussed at a seminar in Visby Gotland this summer arranged by the Board for the Image of Sweden Abroad.

Major party shifts occur because of failure

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-09-05

Since a couple of years the Conservative party of Sweden (Moderaterna) has had the slogan "Either you change - or you will die" It means that they, as a party, must change in order to be in line with the needs from ordinary citizens and adapt to new circumstances.

The Left party - towards the government?

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-09-06

Yesterday it was the chairman of the Left party, Lars Ohly’s turn to be enquired by the Swedish television. Ohly is generally considered to have done a stable performance but slipped at a few occasions. The Swedish parliamentary election will be held on September 19.

A new Sweden emerging?

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-09-22 | 5 comments

Does it mean something that a centre-right government was able to win for a second term in “socialist” Sweden, the stronghold of social democracy? Has Margaret Thatcher moved to Sweden? Or is it...

Will the Social Democratic Party and LO divorce soon?

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-09-28

The question about the relationship between the Social Democratic Party (SAP) and LO* is one of major importance for Swedish politics and the consequences of a formal divorce between the two will affect both politics and the relations at the labour market.

Musical chairs at election of Speaker of Parliament

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-10-05 | 1 comment

Yesterday was a tragicomic first day in the new parliament when the Riksdag was to elect a speaker. Three political blocs without their own majority stood against each other. But the absenteeism of one MP, another ones toilet visit, and a...

Attempt to settle Employment Legislation Protection

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-10-08

In March 2009 the negotiations around a new agreement in style of Saltsjöbaden (1938) were suspended. The reason was mainly disagreements around the issue of Employment Protection Legislation, LAS in Sweden, which means the rules concerning employment protection, requirements for collective dismissals, priority rules and the redundancy procedures.

The gossip debate may obscure the important issues

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-11-08 | 3 comments

Making people´s living habits a political issue is nothing new

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-11-14

When politicians in Stockholm decided to require special housing habits of those who move into Norra Djurgårdsstaden Stockholm, that pursues a long tradition of social engineering to influence people´s living habits.

Money from congestion tax end up elsewhere

Chronicles/analysis | 2010-12-17

When the congestion tax was made permanent in Stockholm in 2007 a precondition was that the revenue...

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