Archive for January, 2008
Simple Question, Complex Answers
Prompted by the publication of a study of the Swedish 2006 election, Ulf Bjereld asks a relatively simple question:
Hur skall vi givet högervågen i den svenska väljarkåren förstå opinionsutvecklingen efter valet?
or in English:
How can we explain the development in public opinion following the 2006 election, given the right-wing trend in the Swedish electorate
Easy, right? Especially given the fact that a) the centre-right coalition based its electoral succes on white-collar, not blue-collar votes, and b) dislike of Göran Persson played some, but not a deciding part in the Social Democratic defeat.
Hmm, yes. I think a couple of political scientists could spend some years trying to figure that one out. There is indeed something very strange about the Swedish electorate these days.
links for 2008-01-31
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Das von der CDU kurz nach Weihnachten kommunizierte Thema Jugendkriminalität …führte es auch dazu, dass die CDU in ein negatives Meinungsklima rutschte
A Regional Question
The twists and turns of regional politics in Sweden – or to be more specific: the politics of regional administrative divisions – during later years have been complicated and would demand a series of blog-posts were I obliged to do them justice.
But let me just note that the Conservative Party (always the party of centralised government) in principle blocks any proposals for reorganisations on the regional level against the will of – well, every other party.
Two obvious questions about the regional level of government are: 1) What should the regions do, and 2) How large should they be? The recent Danish reform of local government answered those questions with 1) health care and 2) Around 1 mill. inhabitants.
If we should apply this principle in Sweden, the country should have nine instead of twenty-four regions and there would of cause also be quite a bit of reshuffling of operative administrations between the state, regions and local councils. Here, I should note that one reason that the Conservatives block a reform of the regional level probably also has to do with the party’s opposition against giving regions responsibilities in regional development and industrial policy but we’ll leave this aside for the moment.
If you look at the existing counties in Sweden, it is obvious that all four regions in Norrland – ie. Jämtland, Västernorrland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten (population numbers here) – are needed if you want to reach the 1 mill.
On the other hand, you will also have to acknowledge that a region including the four present Norrland counties would be pretty large in geographical terms – somewhere around 225000 sq kilometres. In terms of size, that’s a little smaller than Romania and a bit bigger than Belarus. And around half of Sweden’s territory.
It seems that resistance against a Greater Norrland region has been most intense in Jämtland and parts of Västernorrland. Örnsköldsvik (Västernorrland), on the other hand, has voiced its interest in being part of an Upper Norrland region and to have as close relations with Umeå as possible.
In any event, the result of a meeting today of the committee discussing the possible future administrative divisions in Norrland was that neither Jämtland nor Västernorrland as a whole want to join a Norrland region. Instead, two regions are proposed: One consisting of Jämtland county, Sundsvall and Ånge, and another consisting of Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties as well as Örnsköldsvik, Sollefteå and Kramfors. One strange angle on this is that Timrå apparently wants to join Upper Norrland while Härnösand wants to keep its options open (if Timrå joins Upper Norrland, Härnösand would be an exclave in Lower Norrland).
Reactions among local politicians in Umeå have been furious across the board – the Conservative Andreas Ågren complains that this solution puts Umeå at a disadvantage to Luleå when a regional capital has to be chosen while Liberal Britt-Marie Löwgren and the Social Democratic mayor Lennart Holmlund blast the Jämtes. Holmlund – in his usual colourful language – even wants to offload Jämtland to Norway.
The problem is, that if someone decided to present the Jämtes with serious offer of (re-)joining Norway, they might just accept it.
Oh Puh-leeze
I’m sure lots of things can be said about the administration of Umeå University and the organisation of specific lines of education but that the university’s management wants to sell the incorporation of the Faculty of Teacher Education into other faculties as – and this is the very term used in Swedish contexts – Umeå School of Education…
Well, you could of cause begin by shutting down the Swedish language programme for a start, when the management insist on pretending that UmU is a US college.
If we leave this aside, what else can be said? Perhaps that the teacher education programmes in Umeå to the best of my knowledge have been endlessly redesigned and reorganised during the past decades (I haven’t taught on any of the dedicated teacher programmes so I rely on second-hand knowledge here). And that money may or may not play a role.
On This Day in History
Denmark is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Kanslergade Agreement (actually, some sources quote the 29th as the day of the agreement) which was an agreement on economic and trade policy between the Social Democratic-Social Liberal coalition and the Liberal Party.
The votes of the Liberals were needed, as the opposition controlled the majority in the upper house of parliament. Even if the agreement far from solved the massive economic and social problems of the time, it was still seen as a victory for the cooperative style of Danish parliamentarism. The introduction of the “Social Reform” was probably the most lasting effect of the agreement in policy terms
Celebrating? Well, actually not. I haven’t been able to find any mention of the day in any of today’s Danish papers. 1933 is a long time ago.
In Germany, of cause, 30 January 1933 is remembered but with less fond feelings.
Teaching. Anyone? Anyone?
Me? Oh, I’m preparing a course in Swedish politics for March. But it is internet-based so I’ll be making podcasts and whatnot instead. So I will be just another browser window.
Also Known as Handelshøjskolen
Ah, yes. Let’s pretend we’re American and then everybody will believe that we are an elite university, right?
This is another way of saying that I’m endlessly annoyed by Handelshøjskolen i København which in an attempt to present itself as a US educational institution formally has re-named itself Copenhagen Business School. Even – or perhaps: especially – the college’s Danish website will give you this information.
But if people “out there” are talking about CBS (and not the US TV network), what are they referring to?
Marginal Revolution accidentally gave us the clue earlier today.
Who’s Next?
Gitte Seeberg, one of the founders of Ny Alliance, today announced that she has left the party.
Two defections within three months of an election is pretty rare in Denmark.
Gordon Brown Is the New…
…Poul Nyrup Rasmussen!
It just occurred to me that the “I’m-going-to-be-three-hours-late-so-that-it-will-look-like-I-don’t-sign-the-treaty”-fiasco of Gordon Brown’s signing of the Lisbon Treaty is eerily reminiscent of the public relations fiascos that haunted Poul Nyrup Rasmussen during much of his time in office as Danish PM.
Beware, Gordon.
The End of CD
No, not the Compact Disc but the Danish party Centrum-Demokraterne which was founded by maverick Social Democratic MP and mayor of Gladsaxe Erhard Jakobsen in 1973 and played a central role in Danish national politics from December 1973 until the late 1990s.
The party lost its parliamentary representation in 2001 and failed to run in 2007. Now the party – which always had a very weak organisation but in the end was down to 320 members – announced that it will cease its activities on 1 February 2008.
The question is if anyone will notice.