Northern Exposure
The first two years of Norway’s Arbeiderpartiet (Labour Party)/ Senterpartiet (Centre Party) coalition government have seen the challenges mount up, with debates about solidarity dominating at the international level, while domestic economic inequality has increased.
A new hope?
The expectations for real political change after the 2021 elections were high. The centre-left and socialist parties had won a solid majority in parliament, after eight years of conservative-liberal welfare and public sector cuts, tax cuts for the wealthy, and ...
read more "Strained Alliances in Norwegian Politics"
read more "Strained Alliances in Norwegian Politics"
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?"
Denmark’s new centre-right “grand coalition” government is historic in its composition, and – in its brief existence – has already come down clearly on the side of the upper-class. It has used the insecurity generated by Russia’s war on Ukraine to push through tax cuts for the wealthy, attacks on pensions, and abolishing a national holiday, while failing to address the real problems facing Danish society.
An unusual negotiation for an unusual government
When Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen launched the election ...
read more "Denmark: Strange New Government, Same Old Politics"
read more "Denmark: Strange New Government, Same Old Politics"
On the eve of joining NATO, Sanna Marin’s centre-left coalition was defeated by the austerity hawks
The parliamentary elections in Finland were expected to be decided by a razor thin margin, and the results did not disappoint. It took the major media outlets some hours to finally present a winner for the 2023 parliamentary elections, but in the end, it was clear: the Social Democrat-led government was defeated, and National Coalition Party (NCP) leader Petteri Orpo will become Finland’s next prime minister.
Before the dust of the election had even ...
read more "Finland Comes Back into the Cold"
read more "Finland Comes Back into the Cold"
Why far-right populism won the Swedish election, but is making the right lose its credibilityAfter five weeks of complicated negotiations, on 18 October 2022 Sweden’s Parliament (Riksdagen) elected the most far-right government in the country’s history. The centre-right Moderates, along with their junior partners, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, depend on support from the far-right Sweden Democrats to govern. The Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) actually received more votes than any other party on the right, but didn’t ...
read more "Sweden’s four messy months of right-wing government"
read more "Sweden’s four messy months of right-wing government"
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"
Denmark’s radical left party, the Red Green Alliance, is in a spin. At the November 1 general election, it lost a quarter of its support, a third of its seats, and its influence with government. Alongside the immediate financial and political ramifications, the result has opened up both internal and public debate on what went wrong and why – exposing strategic disagreements over the party’s direction.
This was the Red Green Alliance’s (RGA) third electoral retreat in a row, following the 2019 national election and last year’s municipal vote. The party ...
read more "Denmark’s left in crisis?"
read more "Denmark’s left in crisis?"
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"
The Danish election of 1 November 2022 was truly historic: consolidated parties have fallen from grace, new ones have stormed into parliament, and never before have so many voters shifted their alliances between parties in the months leading up to the election.
Entering the voting booth last Tuesday, Danish voters were presented with no less than fourteen different parties to choose from. New parties on the right presented old populist positions, but with a more popular visage. Led by well-known politicians, these parties have matched different policies ...
read more "Denmark 2022: A landslide election"
read more "Denmark 2022: A landslide election"
On November 1, Denmark will vote, seven months ahead of schedule. Polls show left and right blocs almost neck-and-neck, and the risk of an outright win for the right-wing remains real. However, with Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen seeking to hold onto power through an unlikely coalition across the middle, a rightwards shift seems inevitable.
The early election was called when the Social Liberals, one of three smaller parties propping up the Social Democrat minority government, threatened a no-confidence motion ...
read more "Denmark to hold early elections as Social Democrats move right"
read more "Denmark to hold early elections as Social Democrats move right"