Jacob Christensen

I know that there are lots of lists with the new Swedish government but as I made this yesterday for another purpose, I might as well put it here.

Prime Minister’s Office

Prime Minister: Fredrik Reinfeldt (m)

European Union Affairs: Cecilia Malmström (fp) Sweden now has a dedicated Minister for Europe. It will be interesting to see how the turf wars between the PMO and the FO will turn out in this government

Department of Finance

Finance: Anders Borg (m) Even if he was Reinfeldt’s economic policy advisor, Borg’s appointment is still a bit of a surprise as he has not experience from parliamentary politics at a national level. And he may be the world’s first Finance Minister with a pony tail!

Local Government and Financial Markets: Mats Odell (kd) One of three ministers from Bildt’s 1991-1994 government. Bildt and Ask are the other two.

Foreign Office

Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt (m)

Trade: Maria Borelius (m) I think that was a surprise.

Overseas Development: Gunilla Carlsson (m)

Department of Education

Education: Lars Leijonborg (fp) (Leijonborg is also the chairman of the government committee on globalisation)

School/Primary Education: Jan Björklund (fp) No longer a portfolio for Pre-School Care.

Department of Social Affairs

Social Affairs: Göran Hägglund (kd)

Health and Social Services: Maria Larsson (kd)

Social Insurance: Cristina Husmark Pehrsson (m)

Department of Environment

Environment: Andreas Carlgren (c)

Department of Industry and Commerce

Industry: Centerledaren Maud Olofsson (c)

Infrastructure: Åsa Torstensson (c) The Orwellian-named Department of Society Building has been split into Environment, Infrastructure and Integration.

Department of Agriculture

Agriculture: Eskil Erlandsson (c) Note that it is not longer Consumer Policy but good old Agriculture

Department of Culture

Culture: Cecilia Stegö Chilò (m) Surprise #1: Culture now has its own portfolio and department. Surprise #2: Stegö Chilò comes straight from the Liberal think tank Timbro and has had nothing to do with Cultural Policy. She’s more free markets that public enlightenment.

Department of Defense

Defense: Mikael Odelberg (m)

Justice Department

Justice: Beatrice Ask (m)

Migration: Tobias Billström (m)

Department of Integration and Equal Rights

Integration and Equal Rights: Nyamko Sabuni (fp) She’s not Ayaan Hirsi Ali/Magan but she is certainly a red cloth in the face of multiculturalists and Islamists.

Department of Labour

Labour: Sven Otto Littorin (m)

If this story from Sveriges Radio is to be believed – an why not: It is after all an interview with Lars Leijonborg, the leader of the Liberal Party – Carl Bildt only became Foreign Minister after Fredrik Reinfeldt had offered the portfolio to the other three party leaders in succession.

There are many reasons why a party leader wouldn’t want to be Foreign Minister in a coalition government – the post demands a lot of travelling while you ideally should also take care of negotiations in the government and business in your party. Finally, foreign policy usually isn’t a policy area where you can make points in domestic policy.

On the other hand, Reinfeldt would still have had the same alternative as Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (Denmark, 1993), Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Denmark, 2001) or Angela Merkel (Germany, 2005): Give the Foreign Office to one of the junior partners who would then fill the post with either a former leader (Niels Helveg Petersen (1993), Per Stig Møller (2001)) or a dependable party worker (Frank-Walther Steinmeier (2005)).

If we look at Danish history, not all leaders of junior parties have opted for the Foreign Office: P. Munch (1929-1940), Ole Bjørn Kraft (1950-1953), Poul Hartling (1968-1971) and Henning Christophersen (1978-1979) did, while Bertel Dahlgaard (Economy, 1957-61), Jørgen Jørgensen (Education, 1957-1961), Viggo Starcke (Consultative, 1957-1960), Keld Philip (Finance, later Economy, 1960-1964), Henning Christophersen (Finance, 1982-1984), Mimi Jakobsen (Culture 1982-1986, Social Affairs 1986-88, Economic Coordination 1993-1994, Commerce, 1994-1996), Christian Christensen (Environment, 1982-1988), Niels Helveg Petersen (Economy, 1988-1990), Marianne Jelved (Economy, 1993-2001), Jann Sjursen (Energy, 1993-1994) and Bendt Bendtsen (Economy and Commerce, 2001-today) chose “domestic” portfolios.

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen served as Foreign Minister during all of Poul Schüter’s governments but only became leader of the Liberal Party in 1984 after Henning Christophersen left to become European Commissioner.

Ellemann-Jensen could probably have chosen to swap Foreign Affairs for Finance or Economy had he wanted to. On the other hand, Ellemann-Jensen used foreign and especially European policy to profile the Liberal Party in domestic politics during the 1980s and 1990s.

If we take previous Swedish coalitions since 1936 as our point of departure, the leaders of junior partners have as a rule avoided the Foreign Office: Pehrsson-Bramstorp (1936-1939) chose Agriculture, Hedlund (1951-1957) Interior (this means local government in Scandinavia, not police and judiciary), Bohman (1976-78 and 1979-81) Economy and Ahlmark (1976-1978) Labour.

In Carl Bildt’s four-party coalition, Westerberg opted for Social Affairs, Johansson for Environment and Svensson Overseas Development. The coalitions between the Social Democrats and the Agrarian Party (today’s Centre Party) had Social Democratic Foreign Ministers, while the Conservative Margaretha af Ugglas was Foreign Minister between 1991 and 1994

That leaves Ola Ullsten who took over the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1978 when Per Ahlmark unexpectedly quit. In Fälldin’s first government, Ullsten was Minister for Overseas Development (!) and from 1977 Immigration while Karin Söder of the Centre Party held the Foreign Office.

In Fälldin’s second and third governments, Ullsten was promoted to the Foreign Office but according to Wikipedia, there were complaints from within the Liberal Party that Ullsten’s portfolio was too insignificant politically and that he should have opted for the Social Affairs portfolio instead.

Norwegian and Finnish evidence, anyone?

In Denmark, Centrum-Demokraterne is a special case as Erhard Jakobsen did not join the government in 1982. He was a Minister w.o. Portfolio 1987-1988. I have listed Mimi Jakobsen as the highest-ranking minister from CD.

There is no need to be desperate, Professor: You – and the rest of us – should just forget about network news and newspapers and tune in to The Daily Show.Hat tip to Foreign Policy.Topic for discussion: Should we laugh or cry?