Sweden
IMAGO/TT
After winning over 11 percent of the vote, and two mandates, in June’s European Parliament elections, the Swedish Left Party Vänsterpartiet is celebrating its best election results in twenty years. The historic result brought the party a step closer to fulfilling large parts of its main strategy, something it has been working towards for more than a decade. How this outcome is to be interpreted – whether as a direct result of this strategy, or a widening of it – is now up for debate.
The European election also took place mere...
read more "Sweden’s Left Party celebrates its biggest win in 20 year"
read more "Sweden’s Left Party celebrates its biggest win in 20 year"
Agnes Stuber
An interview with Hanna Gedin from the Swedish Left Party Vänsterpartiet on the priorities and challenges of the Swedish Left ahead of the European elections.
In the lead up to the 2024 European Parliament elections this June, the Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung is conducting a series of interviews with parties and candidates from across the EU on the election campaign, their political demands, and the challenges for left forces domestically and at a European level. Duroyan Fertl spoke to Hanna Gedin, second on the list for Swedish left party ...
read more "”We need to give people hope”"
read more "”We need to give people hope”"
Event ReportOn 8-9 June 2023 the Brussels Office of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (RLS) hosted a workshop in Malmö to facilitate the exchange of experiences and strategies between several left-wing parties grappling with the issue of security policy, particularly in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The event was held face-to-face and invitation-only to guarantee an atmosphere of trust and confidentiality to participants.
The workshop brought together 20 party activists and decision-makers from the political left in Sweden, ...
read more "“Security and the Left” – Impact Workshop"
read more "“Security and the Left” – Impact Workshop"
In late March of this year, the Swedish Parliament voted by a large majority to join NATO and abandon the country’s traditional policy of military non-alignment. Only the Left and Green parties voted against the move.
Outside parliament, a majority of the Swedish people also favour joining NATO. Next door, Finland’s NATO membership is already a fact. The immediate reason for this shift is clear: NATO supporters have a superior campaigner for their cause in Vladimir Putin. Russia’s invasion and occupation of parts of Ukraine has shifted public opinion ...
read more "Sweden in NATO — And Then What?"
read more "Sweden in NATO — And Then What?"
In June 2022, the Brussels Office of Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung hosted a workshop in Copenhagen to better understand and compare the central issues, experiences and strategies of left-wing parties’ participation in, or support of, governments in the region. The event was face-to-face and by-invitation only to guarantee an atmosphere of trust and confidentiality to participants.
The workshop brought together 30 party activists and decision-makers from among the political left in Sweden, Denmark and Germany.[1] Participation ...
read more "Impact workshop: “The Left in Power”, Copenhagen 9-10 June"
read more "Impact workshop: “The Left in Power”, Copenhagen 9-10 June"
The political results of the Swedish election are in, and they bear all the hallmarks of a bad dystopian novel. The new government will be comprised of the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, and – in all ways except appointed ministers – the far-right Sweden Democrats.
Broadly speaking, the Moderates get all the central functions of government, including the role of Prime Minister, ministers of finance, justice, and foreign affairs, while the Christian Democrats get social issues and health care, with the Liberals ...
read more "Sweden’s new government – a dystopian nightmare"
read more "Sweden’s new government – a dystopian nightmare"
With almost all votes counted from Sunday’s election, it looks like Sweden’s right-wing parties are set to take power with a razor-thin majority, ending eight years of social democratic government. For the first time, this conservative coalition also includes the far-right Sweden Democrats, who have emerged as the country’s second largest party, despite their roots in Sweden’s neo-Nazi movement. The result is an evident decline for the progressive spectrum of Swedish politics as a whole and the Left party in ...
read more "Sweden: right-wing coalition wins election by the narrowest of margins"
read more "Sweden: right-wing coalition wins election by the narrowest of margins"
Welfare State Retrenchment, the Effects on Women, and Feminist Responses in SwedenAbout the book
From an international perspective, the Nordic model can easily be seen as an ideal welfare state. Additionally, more than any other welfare state model, the Nordic model is not just a label applied by welfare state analysts; it has also been used with pride by Nordic governments and citizens (Lister 2009). The striving for equality and the high degree of universalism have been regarded as proof of the superiority of the Nordic model (Anttonen 2002). The concept of universalism is ...
read more "A Caring State?"
read more "A Caring State?"
“I’m sure that our actions will not be popular in 20 years’ time when retirees realise what we have done.”
Göran Persson, leader of the Social Democrats and Prime Minister of Sweden was speaking with his characteristic candour during a visit to Australia in 2005.
It was only six years after the launch of the new national Swedish pension system. And the leader of the biggest party behind the reform was already certain that the outcome would be widespread misery for all ...
read more "How Sweden gave up the world’s most generous pension scheme to become a nation of unwilling fund brokers"
read more "How Sweden gave up the world’s most generous pension scheme to become a nation of unwilling fund brokers"
Analysis and Strategy on Right-Wing PopulismThe book is available for download here!
Over the past decade, many countries have seen the rise and consolidation of support for right-wing populist movements and parties. This development is being increasingly reflected in parliaments and governments alike and now poses a serious challenge, both to parties of the left and to the values at the heart of liberal democracy.
For the past two years, the Copenhagen-based Democracy in Europe Organisation (DEO) has teamed up with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office (RLS) on a ...
read more "Don’t Panic"
read more "Don’t Panic"