Archive for May 8th, 2008
The Last Party Member
You can either look at this seriously or light-heartedly. Anyway, SvT’s news programme Aktuellt has done some calculations and by extrapolating trends – which you should never, ever do – predicts the impending death of the Swedish political parties.
Political scientists should already now make place in their calendars for memorial services in 2015 (Centre Party), 2016 (Social Democrats), 2021 (Conservatives) and finally, in 2024 the Liberals will bow out.
In a slightly more serious vein: As in Denmark, the traditional mass party model is on its way out in Sweden. Party organisations and party groups will continue to exist but take on different forms. The real problem, as I see it, will be in local politics where recruiting candidates for public offices may be difficult.
On the other hand, we should also remember that levels of party membership were unusually high in Scandinavia compared with most other countries. Just like Denmark, Sweden is turning European.
For Scandinavian-readers: Gissur Erlingsson has a post on the same subject on his blog with some extra thoughts about the Swedish model of decision-making.
Sweden vs. Denmark: This Time It’s Serious
It’s ice hockey, and not just that: It’s the qualification round in the World Championships.
In the real world, the Danish chances of a win are marginally smaller than those of an ice man surviving a day in Central Africa but you can always hope. And should the impossible happen, then I can look forward to some very interesting headlines in Swedish media tomorrow.