The Oxford Handbook of Swedish Politics

Summary:

The Oxford Handbook of Swedish Politics provides a state of the art analysis of political development in Sweden. Covering all essential aspects of politics in Sweden, this volume provides detailed accounts of policy making, governance, institutional arrangements, foreign relations, electoral behavior, the party system, the public administration, the constitutional framework, and the welfare state. The Handbook shows how many of the features that once were exceptional to Sweden, for example, the welfare state, the consensual policy making, the historical compromise between capital and labor, and the dominance of social democracy, are less prominent today compared to a few decades ago although they are still certainly present. Global forces, increasing affluence, and an ideological shift towards neo-liberalism have contributed to making Sweden more of an average European industrialized democracy.

The Handbook is divided into ten thematic Sections with four chapters and an Introduction in each Section. Thus, each theme is studied from different perspectives in order to provide the reader with a more multi-faceted picture of the political development in each theme.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: the decline of Swedish exceptionalism? | Jon Pierre
• Section 1: The Politics of the Welfare State

1. Introduction | Bo Rothstein
2. Who loves the Swedish welfare state? Attitude trends 1980-2010 | Stefan Svallfors
3. Political partisanship and policy feedback: the Swedish welfare state after eight years of centre-right government | Anders Lindbom
4. The welfare state and gender equality | Christina Bergqvist
5. The moral, economic and political logic of the Swedish welfare state | Bo Rothstein

• Section 2: Constitutional Design

6. Introduction | Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg
7. Constitutional history | Olof Petersson
8. The election system | Jörgen Hermansson
9. The parliamentary system | Tommy Möller
10. The public sector and the courts | Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg, Helena Wockelberg

• Section 3: The Party System

11. Introduction | Hanna Bäck, Gissur O. Erlingsson
12. The party system | Nicholas Aylott
13. The party organizations | Gissur O. Erlingsson, Ann-Kristin Kölln, Patrik Öhberg
14. Political parties and political representation | Peter Esaiasson, Lena Wängnerud
15. The parties in government formation | Hanna Bäck, Torbjörn Bergman

• Section 4: Electoral Behaviour

16. Introduction | Sören Holmberg, Henrik Oscarsson
17. Voter turnout | Richard Öhrvall
18. The never-ending story of class voting in Sweden | Maria Oskarson
19. Issue voting structured by left-right ideology | Henrik Oscarsson, Sören Holmberg
20. Swedish election campaigns | Jesper Strömbäck

• Section 5: Public Administration

21. Introduction | Göran Sundström
22. The Swedish administrative model | Patrik Hall
23. Administrative reform | Göran Sundström
24. The public servant | Peter Ehn
25. Governing the state | Bengt Jacobsson, Göran Sundström

• Section 6: Subnational Government

26. Introduction | Anders Lidström
27. Municipalities, regions, and county councils: actors and institutions | Stig Montin
28. Subnational government in a multilevel perspective | David Feltenius
29. Challenges and reforms of local and regional governments in Sweden | Lars Niklasson
30. Swedish local and regional government in a European context | Anders Lidström

• Section 7: Sweden's International Relations

31. Introduction | Ole Elgström
32. Swedish foreign policy: the policy of neutrality and beyond | Ulf Bjereld, Ulrika Möller
33. Sweden and the Baltic Sea region | Rikard Bengtsson
34. Swedish internationalism and development aid | Annika Bergman Rosamond
35. "A force for good"? Paradoxes of Swedish military activism | Lisbeth Aggestam, Adrian Hyde-Price

• Section 8: Sweden and the EU

36. Introduction | Ulrika Mörth
37. Sweden in a multigovernance polity | Ulrika Mörth
38. The Europeanization of the Swedish state | Bengt Jacobsson, Göran Sundström
39. The Europeanization of Swedish foreign policy and beyond: on multiple roles in Swedish post-Cold War foreign policy | Douglas Brommesson
40. Leading the European Union: Sweden's EU Presidencies 2001 and 2009 | Malena Rosén Sundström

• Section 9: The Political Economy of Swedish Governance

41. Introduction | Johannes Lindvall
42. A model of welfare capitalism? Perspectives on the Swedish model, then and now | Jenny Andersson
43. One hundred years of Swedish economic policy | Leif Lewin, Johannes Lindvall
44. The Swedish macroeconomic policy framework | Lars Calmfors
45. The Swedish model of industrial relations | Torsten Svensson

• Section 10: Policy Making in Sweden

46. Introduction | Carl Dahlström
47. Policy coordination under minority and majority rule | Thomas Persson
48. Rational politics: commissions of inquiry and the referral system in Sweden | Olof Petersson
49. Interest organizations in the policy process: interest advocacy and policy advice | Perola Öberg
50. Parliamentary committees: a ground for compromise and conflict | Ingvar Mattson

Commentary and Analysis

LSE: EUROPP Blog, 14/08/2016: Book Review of The Oxford Handbook of Swedish Politics http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2016/08/14/book-review-the-oxford-handbook-of-swedish-politics-edited-by-jon-pierre/

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