Scandinavian politics thread: All stereotypes welcome

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TheFluff: Dec 13, 2006; FRIENDS, LISTEN TO ME
I AM A SEAGULL
OF WEALTH AND TASTE

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO PLAN ON READING THIS THREAD WITH ANY REGULARITY

Welcome, ladies and gentlegoons, to the Scandinavian politics thread. Ask us about drinking way too much vodka that is either moonshine or way too expensive due to government monopoly and our complete inability to drink responsibly, driving Volvos with lowered suspensions, getting depressed to the point of contemplating suicide every November, playing MMORPG's while being on welfare, eating fermented or lyed fish, being afraid of our Russian arch-nemesis invading us again, bashing the fash, getting bashed by the fash and wishing we could deport Ligur to the Finnish politics thread while he smugly claims that we aren't going to deport whatever Muslim dude was in the news this week.

Scandinavia proper traditionally consists of
- the Swedes, who are a bunch of insufferably smug jerks who constantly lord their claimed moral superiority over everyone else and aren't even ashamed by their limitless arrogance (see: Stockholm unilaterally declaring itself "the capital of Scandinavia")
- the Danes, who drink even more than the rest of us and are mean to foreigners, women and animals, while thinking they're the only ones who dare to speak The Truth
- the Norwegians, who are a bunch of fish-smelling rednecks who think their gigantic gently caress-You-Got-Mine oil money fund makes them better than everyone else

These three countries have a very long shared history (Sweden and Denmark have been at war with each other somewhere between 15 and 20 times in the last nine hundred years or so, depending on how you count), mostly mutually intelligible languages (nobody understands each other's dialects, though) and a very similar political scene.

Finland was a part of Sweden until 1809 but isn't considered part of Scandinavia. Finnish is very unlike the Scandinavian languages, but some of them speak Swedish due to a policy that is seen either as protecting a minority or government oppression, which I'm sure they'll tell you all about if you ask them about it in their own thread.

Iceland has historically been connected to Norway and Denmark but they've always done their own thing because they're so far away from everyone else. Icelandic is basically as close to Old Norse you can get in the modern world and nobody speaks that stuff in Scandinavia anymore. Ask Deceitful Penguin about elves and space MMORPG's, I guess.

If you wanted to refer to all five of these you'd call them the "Nordic countries". There's a "Nordic council" which has been made kinda irrelevant by the EU, but it was sort of a proto-political union kind of thing. The borders have been completely open among all the Nordic countries since 1952, including the right for all Nordic citizens to move to and work in another Nordic country.

The Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) are not really part of any of these but the Swedes and the Finns sorta consider them to be within their sphere of influence or something.

This thread is mostly for Scandinavian politics, but if you want to drag the Finns or the Icelanders in here I don't really mind. I think half of the Finnish thread follows this one too anyway. Feel free to use native terms if you think it makes stuff clearer.

Randarkman posted:

Woke up early with a cold and thought I'd begin doing that write-up. Here's the parties currently in parliament and what I think I know about them. Feel free to point out typos and anything you feel is missing or just wrong.

PARTIES IN THE NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENT

H�yre (Conservative Party) - IN GOVERNMENT
Last election result: 26.8% (48 seats)
Number of mayors: 125/428
Identifier: (H)
Ideology: (neo)liberalism, conservatism (also social democracy, but don�t tell anyone)
Leader: Erna Solberg (prime minister)

Second oldest political party in Norway, originally the party of bureaucrats, monarchists and the traditional upper class, today they are pretty much a typical European conservative party with notable neo-liberal tendencies. Everyone expected them to do well in the last election, and in many ways, they did just that, but they could have done a lot better, chalk it up to a very uneven campaign leading up to the election. Their pet issues are lower taxes, increased centralization and education reform (they tend to favor a school with more tests and surveys and such). The typical H�yre-voter is a wealthy, educated person from one of the larger cities or their suburbs.

Fremskrittspartiet (The Progress Party) - IN GOVERNMENT
Last election result: 16.3% (29 seats)
Number of mayors: 11/428
Identifier: (FrP)
Ideology: liberalism, libertarianism, populism, conservatism, anti-immigration, etc
Leader: Siv Jensen (finance minister)

Founded as �Anders Lange�s Party for a strong reduction in taxes, duties and public intervention� by notable egg liqueur swilling, Viking sword-wielding journalist Anders Lange for exactly the purpose spelled out in its name. They have undergone some changes since then, perhaps most notably a name change, and have been most notable for their anti-immigration rethoric (particularly as regards Muslims) in the last two decades. Two elections back they were the second largest party in parliament but have lost a lot of votes to H�yre recently, possibly because their current leader Siv Jensen does not possess nearly as much firebrand outrageousness as former leader Carl I. Hagen or other party personalities such as Per Sandberg (build a wall in Greece to keep out immigrants) and Christian Tybring-Gjedde (rear end in a top hat). They�ve also been remarkably tame in their new minority coalition government with H�yre. Their typical voters are working class and middle class people who are attracted to the promise of reduced immigration and lower taxes and share their anti-elitist bent.

Arbeiderpartiet (The Labor Party)
Last election result: 30.8% (55 seats)
Number of mayors: 155/428
Identifier: (AP)
Ideology: Social democracy (also neo-liberalism)
Leader: Jonas Gahr St�re

Possibly the most influential political party in modern Norwegian history, having had majority governments various times in the post-war years allowed them to shape the country as they saw fit, what Norway is today is inarguably largely their doing. They aren�t quite what they used to be as they haven�t been able to win clear majorities in elections since the �90s and their two-term coalition partnership starting in 2005 with Sp and SV was the first time they ever led a coalition government. I�d say that their new leader Jonas Gahr St�re is the perfect example of what you get when you vote for AP; a competent, reliable, stern statesman with a pragmatist streak and a little bit of charm. In most ways however AP is a center-left party that like most other labor parties in Europe have adopted quite a bit of neo-liberalism in the last two decades, they also remain supporters of Norwegian NATO membership and are usually proponents of increased centralization. Their typical voters are basically anyone not likely to vote for any of the other parties, but immigrants (when they actually vote) are likely to vote for them as are many unionized workers (they have a very close relationship with Norwegian LO).

Venstre (Liberal Party)
Last election result: 5.2% (9 seats)
Number of mayors: 10/428
Identifier: (V)
Ideology: Social liberalism (with a certain libertarian streak), environmentalism
Leader: Trine Skei Grande

Norway�s oldest political party, starting out as the party favoring increased local autonomy and expansion of voting rights. They�ve undergone quite a few changes ever since then, fracturing several times to give birth to splinter parties and are today mostly notable for being almost completely irrelevant. They have been somewhat notable in the past years for their refusal to work with FrP on most issues, they went back on this after the last election, saying that their support of the new minority coalition government would allow the party to implement policies that they favor and such. Their voters are few, and are mostly in the large cities and I believe they are usually young and educated (or students).

Senterpartiet (Center Party)
Last election result: 5.5% (10 seats)
Number of mayors: 94/428
Identifier: (Sp)
Ideology: Centrism, agrarianism, EU-skepticism, nationalism (of the older romanticist bent)
Leader: Trine Skei Grande

Originally known as Bondepartiet (the Farmers� Party), representing the interests of Norwegian farmers, they might also have formed the core of what became Nasjonal Samling (Norway�s Nazi Party before and during WWII, but nevermind that). Their primary issues include keeping Norway as far away from the EU as possible (they mobilized a lot of support when the country voted on whether to join the union or not), keeping the countryside alive and populated, preserving Norwegian agriculture and local industry and killing every last wolf and bear remaining in the country. They haven�t done particularly well in recent elections but they have a staunch core of supporters located in the west and south of the country and are likely to remain kind-of-sorta-relevant, particularly in local politics. Also kind of notorious for being very mercenary in who they will work with to achieve their ends, though recently they had an internal debate about whether to stick with the Red-Greens or seek closer relations to the Blues. Their typical voter is someone employed in agriculture or living far out in the districts.

Kristelig Folkeparti (Christian Democratic Party)
Last election result: 5.6% (10 seats)
Number of mayors: 19/428
Identifier: (Krf)
Ideology: Christian democracy
Leader: Knut Arild Hareide

They�ve been a fixture of Norwegian politics since 1945, particularly due to their consistent support from voters in Norway�s Bible belt, though they aren�t even close to the force they almost were during the �90s under Kjell Magne Bondevik (who was prime minister). Think of them like the typical Christian democrats; they like the social welfare parts of social democracy well enough and are generally in favoring of extending such policies and offering increased aid to developing countries, they have also in the past supported policies that pay women to be stay-at-home moms (though I believe they�ve abandoned that), and are opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. They like to think of themselves as �non-socialist� rather than �bourgeois� (�borgerlig� is the standard moniker for the Norwegian right-wing). They support the current minority coalition government of H and FrP, initially gaining concessions in the form of introducing measures that would allow doctors to refrain from recommending abortion clinics and such (after this turned out to be very unpopular across the spectrum, they backpedalled). Their voters are Christians from the Bible belt, pure and simple.

Sosialistisk Venstreparti (Socialst Left Party)
Last election result: 4.1% (7 seats)
Number of mayors: 3/428
Identifier: (SV)
Ideology: Socialism, feminism, environmentalism, that whole thing
Leader: Audun Lysbakken

Formed as an offshoot of AP when many members and voters opposed their entry into and support of NATO. SV aims to represent a left-wing alternative to AP. They recently came out of their first ever turn at government and looked poised for a disastrous election, and things didn�t go that well, but they could certainly have been a lot worse. They might be able to pull themselves back up as they have always been the quintessential opposition party, but as for now they will have to deal with less seats in parliament than they�ve had in a long time and losing environmentalist votes to MDG. One of their core issues has been education where they are in direct opposition to H�yre�s vision of the ideal school being one of tests and surveys, they are also one of the most outspoken feminist parties in parliament. Typical voters are educated women, teachers and students.

Milj�partiet De Gr�nne (Green Party)
Last election result: 2.8% (1 seat)
Number of mayors: 0/428
Identifier: (MDG)
Ideology: Green
Leaders/Spokespersons: Hilde Opoku and Rasmus Hansson

The Green movement is kind of a new thing in Norwegian politics, environmentalism has mostly been split between SV and V and the party had no presence in parliament until last year�s election had them gain enough votes in Oslo to gain a single seat. They say that they do not see politics in terms of Red and Blue (that�s left and right), but �Green and Grey�, they want society to be locally self-sufficient and all that stuff, people expect them to co-operate with the Red-Greens in the future, as they already do in Trondheim�s city council. Other than that they are currently just the one guy in parliament, their voters I would guess are mostly the same people who would vote for SV or V but who consider environmentalism to be far more important than other issues those parties represent.

Old OP posted:

quote:
Om m�let med samh�lls�utvecklingen skulle vara att vi alla skulle arbeta maximalt voro vi sinnessjuka. M�let �r att frig�ra m�nniskan till att skapa maximalt. Dansa. M�la. Sjunga. Ja, vad ni vill. Frihet.

If the purpose of the progress of our society was that we all should work to the maximum extent possible, we would be insane. The purpose is to liberate people so they can be as creative as possible. Dance. Paint. Sing. Well, whatever you want. Freedom.

-- Ernst Wigforss (1881-1977), social democratic minister of finance 1925�1926 and 1932-1949

The current Swedish parliament is nearing the end of its usual four-year term, and on the second Sunday in September (that is, September 14th) a new parliament will be elected. As usual, elections to the municipal and county assemblies are held at the same time. This thread is for discussing and debating everything related to Swedish politics in general and the elections in general.

Brief introduction to the electoral system
The 349 members of the unicameral parliament (henceforth referred to by its Swedish name, the Riksdag) are all elected at once in a proportional system with 29 constituencies. If you're a maths nerd there are a few quirks to the system that might interest you. A member of parliament is called a riksdagsledamot.

Seats in the riksdag are assigned on a per-party basis, with a minimum of 4% of the votes nationally or 12% in a single constituency required to enter the riksdag. Voters may also (optionally) cast a vote for which candidate of their chosen party they would prefer; at least 5% of the votes in a single constituency are required for a candidate to get elected instead of the party's preferred candidate in this way. The municipal and county elections work in mostly the same way, but the votes are separate for each of the three elections. You can thus vote for a different party in each of them, if you wish.

Once seated, the riksdag elects a prime minister, who chooses his cabinet as he or she wishes. Immediately after the elections there's usually a fair amount of horse-trading among the seated parties - usually, no party gets a significant majority by themselves, so the bigger parties go looking for allies among the smaller ones, promising favors such as cabinet posts in exchange for support for their prime minister candidate. If the opposition is fractured and cannot unite behind a single candidate, your coalition won't need an absolute majority to form a government.

Voter participation tends to be fairly high by global standards. In the 2010 elections, the turnout was 84.63% of the elegible voters, which was the biggest participation since 1994. In the 70's and 80's, however, participation was frequently over 90%; the all time high was 91.76% in 1976.

Parties currently seated in the Riksdag
The sitting government (ruling since the 2006 elections) is a liberal-conservative minority coalition, consisting of Moderaterna, Centerpartiet, Folkpartiet and Kristdemokraterna, which refers to itself as Allians f�r Sverige ("Alliance for Sweden") or just Alliansen ("the Alliance"). It is headed by prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who is the chairman of Moderaterna.

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:
Parties in Sweden are traditionally divided into two groups; Borgare (literally: �the bourgeoisie�) and Socialists. This only really makes sense in a Swedish context, but whatever.

The parties that are currently seated in the riksdag are, in nominal order from the political right (traditionally the "blue" side) to the political left (the "red" side):

Moderaterna (the moderate party)
Last election result: 30.1% (107 seats)
Identifier: (m)
Ideology: Liberalism, conservatism.
Chairman: Fredrik Reinfeldt (prime minister)

Formally Moderata samlingspartiet. Formerly a traditional European conservative party that valued things like low taxes, family values and defense spending, they rebranded themselves as "the new worker's party" in 2005 and won the 2006 elections after forming a four-party coalition with their fellow liberal-conservative parties. Their rethoric is sometimes curiously social-democratic, but they are a solidly neoliberal/conservative party that has been hard at work financing their tax cuts with selling off public assets during the last eight years.

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:
Right wing money-crowd. Current chairman and Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt, deposed the old guard, pushed the party to the political center and won a bunch of elections. Notable wingmen are Carl Bildt (foreign minister and possible cold war sleeper agent) and Anders Borg (minister of finance, used to have a pony tail but is now completely unremarkable). Top issues are unemployment, job creation and FYGM.

Wants: Money.
Voter base: Men, Money.

Folkpartiet liberalerna (the liberal people's party)
Last election result: 7.1% (24 seats)
Identifier: (fp)
Ideology: Liberalism, social liberalism.
Chairman: Jan Bj�rklund (minister for education and deputy prime minister)

Historically, these guys have always been liberals in the traditional sense (it's even in their party name). These days though they mainly define themselves by a few issues: most importantly, schools, nuclear power and NATO membership.

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:
Spent 8 years trying to fix our schools. Actually made them worse, but that's okay, because now, this time, they're actually fixing them, honest. Plus, it was all really the Social Democrats fault anyway, if you think about it. Headed by former military officer Jan Bj�rklund, the party has drifted from vaguely almost-leftist-kinda-social-liberal to right wing liberal. Top issues are schools and education. Also schools. They really care about schools.

Wants: Liberal stuff, like the freedom to choose between 15 different kinds of toothpaste, or what sort of vulture capitalist private school you'd like to ~~sell your children to~~ enroll your children in.
Voter base: Educated men and women. Presumably.

Centerpartiet (the centre party)
Last election result: 6.6% (23 seats)
Identifier: (c)
Ideology: Liberalism, agrarianism, social liberalism, libertarianism, juche, conservatism, fascism, socialism with chinese characteristics, republicanism, anarchism, nationalism.
Chairwoman: Annie L��f (minister for enterprise)

Was known as Bondef�rbundet ("the farmer's league") until 1957 and used to be a staunch ally of the social democrats, but has constantly marched rightwards politically since the 70's. On paper they're some kind of green social-liberal party but their rethoric in recent years has been almost libertarian at times. They really don't cater to the rural population anymore, but rather seem to focus on the economic elite in the cities.

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:
Formerly agrarian, the Centre Party is now a parody party that will be whatever the gently caress you want it to be, as long as you vote for them. In practice, this manifests as a core of mostly elderly agrarians looking lost and confused as chairman Annie L��f (whose southern dialect barely masks her mental retardation) and crew extolls the virtues of noted great thinker Ayn Rand, polygamy, flat tax or some other hilariously retarded thing. Top issues are whatever you want them to be, plus pigs or something.

Wants: To be put out of their misery.
Voter base: Rural Sweden and Inner City Stockholm.

Kristdemokraterna (the christian democrats)
Last election result: 5.6% (19 seats)
Identifier: (kd)
Ideology: Christian democracy.
Chairman: G�ran H�gglund (minister for health and social issues)

A fairly new (formed 1964, entered parliament 1985) conservative party with the usual Christian moral values. Mostly notable for being the only Swedish parliamental party that opposes gay marriage. Has a solid support from their very small voter base and while they are sort of insignificant they are also unlikely to get voted out of parliament.

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:
A party of profoundly limited appeal and an unworkable party platform that has somehow clung to the 4% cutoff for ages. Spends most of their time blocking humane legislation and/or making big bucks on substandard privatized health care and/or retirement homes. Chairman G�ran H�gglund is actually witty. Doesn't help him much though, seeing as he's stuck with a hopeless party. Top issues are improving the care of elderly and reducing regulations for private enterprises.

Wants: For god to smite the unbelievers.
Voter base: Practicing christians, Moderates Party members/voters.

Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden democrats)
Last election result: 5.7% (20 seats)
Identifier: (sd)
Chairman: Jimmie �kesson

The local racist party; was first seated in parliament as a result of the the 2010 elections. As far as European racist parties go they're not quite as bad as some of their cousins, but the rethoric is the usual hate for EU, muslims, beggars and foreigners in general as well as waxing nostalgic for the social democratic golden age. Weirdly enough they keep voting with the alliance in the Riksdag though.

Milj�partiet (the green party)
Last election result: 7.3% (25 seats)
Identifier: (mp)
Ideology: Green politics, social liberalism.
Spokespersons: Gustav Fridolin and �sa Romson

A pretty conventional centrist green party which first entered parliament in 1988. Obviously they're mainly concerned with environmental issues but on the side they have a rather liberal agenda, supporting private schools etc. They also have a reputation for harboring oddballs that believe in chemtrail conspiracies, anti-vaxxers etc.

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:
The bourgeois left, also called. This is what you vote for if you've got leftist sensibilities but also a lot of money/time/live in the big city/whatever. Since they are cool and hip and progressive they've actually got two chairmen, known as spokespersons, instead of just one. One is political prodigy Gustaf Fridolin, a 30-something dude who's something of a veteran despite his relative youth. He is generally viewed as competent, intelligent and charismatic. The other one is �sa Romson. She is a woman. Top issues are the environment, social justice... and some other things probably idk.

Wants: Peace on earth, sustainable environment, pyramid healing centers, drum circles, etc.
Voter base: Young educated women.

Socialdemokraterna (the social democrats)
Last election result: 30.7% (112 seats)
Identifier: (s)
Ideology: Social democracy, social liberalism.
Chairman: Stefan L�fven

The social democrats ruled Sweden mostly unopposed for decades during the latter half of the 20th century, with only brief interruptions. Occasionally they enjoyed an absolute parliamental majority on their own, but their last election result was their worst since 1920, which has triggered kind of an existential crisis. After switching chairmen three times in a few years their current strategy seems to be to say and do as little as possible in order to avoid rocking the boat. Nobody knows what they want these days.

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:
Social democratic worker's party. Plagued by internecine conflict ever since former �strong man� G�ran Persson resigned in 2007. Former welder and trade unionist Stefan L�fven has taken a page out of the formers book and made efforts to consolidate his position and keeping the rest of his party in line top priorities. Currently has the left wing of the party under lock and key. Reciprocates by toeing the party line even when it goes against his own convictions. Pissed off at the Moderate Party for stealing their "boring centrist statesmen" schtick. Top issues are unemployment, job creation and equality.

Wants: Power.
Voter base: Unionized blue collar workers.

V�nsterpartiet (the left party)
Last election result: 5.6% (19 seats)
Identifier: (v)
Ideology: Socialism, Feminism.
Chairman: Jonas Sj�stedt

Formerly the communist party; rebranded just the "left" party after the fall of the USSR. They're currently not very radical in their rethoric and are focusing on a single issue: stopping profits in the private-owned parts of public social services.

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:
Token socialist party. According to popular wisdom the party is made up entirely of queers, foreigners, women and secret communists. This is probably true. Current chairman Jonas Sj�stedts plan, to, essentially, be Social Democrats now that the Social Democrats won't, is paying off, and the party is expected to make some modest gains. Top issues are stopping private profits in the welfare sector and halting further privatizations.

Wants: Mandatory gay marriage and the complete destruction of Swedish society.
Voter base: Social Democrats.

Parties of note outside the parliament

Feministiskt initiativ (the feminist initiative)
Last election result: 5.49% in the European Parliament elections of 2014
Identifier: (fi)
Chairwoman: Gudrun Schyman
A new-ish party focused on feminist issues, peace efforts and social justice in general. They won a major victory in the EU parliament elections this spring and got a seat there, but whether they'll get into the Swedish parliament or not is an open question. Their polling results aren't great.

Piratpartiet (the pirate party)
Last election result: 2.23% in the European Parliament elections of 2014
Identifier: (pp)
The original pirate party. Entered the European parliament in the wake of the The Pirate Bay raid and subsequent court case, and then promptly lost their seat in the next election since nobody cared anymore. Their chances of winning a seat in the national parliament are slim to none.

Svenskarnas Parti (party for the Swedes)
Last election result: N/A
Identifier: SvP
Actual honest-to-god nazis. They won't get any national parliament seats but might grab a few municipal seats in a few minor towns. Not really significant but they've been the subject of much political analysis.

Kalle Anka-partiet (the Donald Duck party)
Last election result: they usually get a few hundred votes, sometimes upwards of a thousand
Political platform: free liquor and wider sidewalks
Since blank votes aren't counted separately anymore, you can't vote blank to protest against the system, so people tend to vote for parties like this one instead.

Hot issues
- immigration policy: (sd) keeps insisting mass immigration will end us as a nation, (fi) wants free immigration, everyone else is kinda waffling about it
- military spending: the Baltic region hasn't been this full of Russian military activity since the cold war and the recent forest fires have shown some alarming holes in the civil defense
- the schools; should the national government take back control from the municipalities?
- the reduced VAT for restaurants and other tax breaks
- environmental issues
- social justice and women's rights
- weapons manufacturing: we have this indigenous fighter jet (among other things) for historical reasons, but exporting weapons isn't a thing the political left likes
- infrastructure: car traffic is on the decline but we keep building horrifically expensive highways, and making the trains run on time again after the latest round of privatizations seems like a Herculean task

Currently, the polls are looking like the right-wing alliance will lose its government position and the social democrats will come back into power, albeit heavily dependent on the green party and the left party.

This OP is obviously heavily colored by my own opinions, but I'm not picky, so if you want to contribute a party description or something about the political situation

Also if you have any questions

actually,

TheFluff fucked around with this message at 05:58 on Feb 27, 2015

# ? Aug 11, 2014 21:58

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 05:59

Deceitful Penguin: Feb 16, 2011

I thought y'all were a communist hell hole under some Palm guy until he got assassinated, now you're ruled by centrists? How'd that happen?

# ? Aug 11, 2014 23:06

woke wedding drone: Jun 1, 2003; by exmarx; Fun Shoe

Deceitful Penguin posted:

I thought y'all were a communist hell hole under some Palm guy until he got assassinated, now you're ruled by centrists? How'd that happen?

End of history bro, same as everywhere else.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 01:43

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

Liberals

(Has an entirely different meaning around these parts)

TheFluff: No rundown on the Donald Duck party? For shame :colbert:

# ? Aug 12, 2014 06:26

Jerry Manderbilt: May 31, 2012; No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

Swedish goons, what are your thoughts on Lars Svensson?

# ? Aug 12, 2014 06:29

computer parts: Nov 18, 2010; PLEASE CLAP

Pimpmust posted:

Liberals

(Has an entirely different meaning around these parts)

Sissy compromisers that are ruining the country? Sounds about the same as here.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 06:38

Andrast: Apr 21, 2010

As a reminder, the neoliberal shitbirds in Sweden are (usually) more left-wing than the american democrats (Not really that great of an achievement though).

Andrast fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Aug 12, 2014

# ? Aug 12, 2014 06:44

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

Why is education privatization such a Thing in Sweden? It's only recently caught on in the States, facing a larger resistance than I thought possible from us.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 06:50

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

Fluff: Got another hot topic issue, making the trains run on time :italy:

Of course, no politician wants to touch that issue, what with not reaping any rewards until 10 years down the line.

As for privatisation, one word: Corruption, blatant loving corruption.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 07:04

ronya: Nov 8, 2010; I'm the normal one.

You hate ridden fucks will regret your words when you eventually grow up.

Peace.

Pimpmust posted:

As for privatisation, one word: Corruption, blatant loving corruption.

also an intense desire for specialty curricula that can't really be advanced nationally, not least of which English-medium-of-instruction education - itself borne of watching the children of the globetrotting class go to international schools

# ? Aug 12, 2014 09:42

Cardiac: Aug 28, 2012

Good initiative TheFluff.

TheFluff posted:

Parties currently seated in the Riksdag
The sitting government (ruling since the 2006 elections) is a liberal-conservative minority coalition, consisting of Moderaterna, Centerpartiet, Folkpartiet and Kristdemokraterna, which refers to itself as Allians f�r Sverige ("Alliance for Sweden") or just Alliansen ("the Alliance"). It is headed by prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who is the chairman of Moderaterna.

The parties that are currently seated in the riksdag are, in nominal order from the political right (traditionally the "blue" side) to the political left (the "red" side):

Moderaterna (the moderate party)
Last election result: 30.1% (107 seats)
Identifier: (m)
Chairman: Fredrik Reinfeldt (prime minister)
Formally Moderata samlingspartiet. Formerly a traditional European conservative party that valued things like low taxes, family values and defense spending, they rebranded themselves as "the new worker's party" in 2005 and won the 2006 elections after forming a four-party coalition with their fellow liberal-conservative parties. Their rethoric is sometimes curiously social-democratic, but they are a solidly neoliberal/conservative party that has been hard at work financing their tax cuts with selling off public assets during the last eight years.

Additions:
Came to power by triangulating the Socialdemocrats and by emphasizing labour and stable finances. They have effectively reduced the Socialdemocrats from a 35%+ party to a 30% and destroyed the Socialdemocrats hegonomy of Swedish Politics. Currently losing a lot of voters to Sverigedemokraterna, due to losing touch with their traditional voter base.

TheFluff posted:

Folkpartiet (the people's party)
Last election result: 7.1% (24 seats)
Identifier: (fp)
Chairman: Jan Bj�rklund (minister for education and deputy prime minister)
Formally Folkpartiet liberalerna. Historically, these guys have always been liberals in the traditional sense (it's even in their party name). These days though they mainly define themselves by a few issues: most importantly, schools, nuclear power and NATO membership.

Additions: They have always been a mixed party with a basis in social liberalism. Known to be unfaithful in the politics and are likely to switch sides and party leader if Socialdemocrats come to power.

TheFluff posted:

Centerpartiet (the centre party)
Last election result: 6.6% (23 seats)
Identifier: (c)
Chairwoman: Annie L��f (minister for enterprise)
Was known as Bondef�rbundet ("the farmer's league") until 1957 and used to be a staunch ally of the social democrats, but has constantly marched rightwards politically since the 70's. On paper they're some kind of green social-liberal party but their rethoric in recent years has been almost libertarian at times. They really don't cater to the rural population anymore, but rather seem to focus on the economic elite in the cities.

Additions: Centerpartiet is truly a schizophrenic party at the moment, trying to cater to both city dwellers and countryside. They aim to be the green liberal party in contrast to Milj�partiet, the green social party. They have tried to make themselves relevant in Stockholm, but are now (due to low support) going back to their roots.

TheFluff posted:

Kristdemokraterna (the christian democrats)
Last election result: 5.6% (19 seats)
Identifier: (kd)
Chairman: G�ran H�gglund (minister for health and social issues)
A fairly new (formed 1964, entered parliament 1985) conservative party with the usual Christian moral values. Mostly notable for being the only Swedish parliamental party that opposes gay marriage. Has a solid support from their very small voter base and while they are sort of insignificant they are also unlikely to get voted out of parliament.

Classic Christian socialconservative party, and the only Christian party in Sweden, which is somewhat of an accomplishment given how secular we are.

TheFluff posted:

Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden democrats)
Last election result: 5.7% (20 seats)
Identifier: (sd)
Chairman: Jimmie �kesson
The local racist party; was first seated in parliament as a result of the the 2010 elections. As far as European racist parties go they're not quite as bad as some of their cousins, but the rethoric is the usual hate for EU, muslims, beggars and foreigners in general as well as waxing nostalgic for the social democratic golden age. Weirdly enough they keep voting with the alliance in the Riksdag though.

Additions: The local racist party that throws out all openly racist members.
Politically they are a social conservative party and similarly to Moderaterna and Socialdemokraterna, with the addition of reducing immigration.
Seen from a European and Scandinavian perspective they are complete pussies.
They have been growing rapidly since the last election, picking up voters from M and S, despite being hated by mass media, and are likely to be the deciding element between the blocks.
They are also the only party opposing increased immigration, something 49% of the Swedish population agrees with. Currently Sweden is taking on a heavy load of immigrants due to very liberal immigration laws, and is per capita the country in EU taking on most immigrants and in total only France and Germany takes on more refugees.
The immigration issue in Sweden is completly locked down and Godwin and the racist ca

TheFluff posted:

Milj�partiet (the green party)
Last election result: 7.3% (25 seats)
Identifier: (mp)
Spokespersons: Gustav Fridolin and �sa Romson
A pretty conventional centrist green party which first entered parliament in 1988. Obviously they're mainly concerned with environmental issues but on the side they have a rather liberal agenda, supporting private schools etc. They also have a reputation for harboring oddballs that believe in chemtrail conspiracies, anti-vaxxers etc.

Additions: The watermelon party, green on the outside and red inside. Their previous spokespersons were more liberal, but the last version have taken more of a turn to the left.
Favoured by journalists, where 40% of Swedens journalist say they favour the party.

TheFluff posted:

Socialdemokraterna (the social democrats)
Last election result: 30.7% (112 seats)
Identifier: (s)
Chairman: Stefan L�fven
The social democrats ruled Sweden mostly unopposed for decades during the latter half of the 20th century, with only brief interruptions. Occasionally they enjoyed an absolute parliamental majority on their own, but their last election result was their worst since 1920, which has triggered kind of an existential crisis. After switching chairmen three times in a few years their current strategy seems to be to say and do as little as possible in order to avoid rocking the boat. Nobody knows what they want these days.

Additions: They want to get into power and avoids rocking the boat to get there. They have basically accepted all of Moderaternas tax cuts and are trying to backtriangulate Moderaterna. A shadow of their former self, and there are no indications they will be as powerful as they used to be if they win the autumns election.

TheFluff posted:

V�nsterpartiet (the left party)
Last election result: 5.6% (19 seats)
Identifier: (v)
Chairman: Jonas Sj�stedt
Formerly the communist party; rebranded just the "left" party after the fall of the USSR. They're currently not very radical in their rethoric and are focusing on a single issue: stopping profits in the private-owned parts of public social services.

Additions: They are trying to pick upp disgruntled S voters that are unhappy with S triangulation of M.

TheFluff posted:

Parties of note outside the parliament

Feministiskt initiativ (the feminist initiative)
Last election result: 5.49% in the European Parliament elections of 2014
Identifier: (fi)
Chairwoman: Gudrun Schyman
A new-ish party focused on feminist issues, peace efforts and social justice in general. They won a major victory in the EU parliament elections this spring and got a seat there, but whether they'll get into the Swedish parliament or not is an open question. Their polling results aren't great.

Additions: Their chairwoman got kicked out of V due to tax fraud and continued her career by starting a new party. They are more left and radical than V, and their effect on the election is likely to be limited to sapping voters from V and MP.

TheFluff posted:

Svenskarnas Parti (party for the Swedes)
Last election result: N/A
Identifier: SvP
Actual honest-to-god nazis. They won't get any national parliament seats but might grab a few municipal seats in a few minor towns. Not really significant but they've been the subject of much political analysis.

Addition: 681 votes in last election, completly irrelevant for anyone besides journalists that invoke Godwin and try to associate them with SD by guilt of association.

TheFluff posted:

Hot issues
- immigration policy: (sd) keeps insisting mass immigration will end us as a nation, (fi) wants free immigration, everyone else is kinda waffling about it
- military spending: the Baltic region hasn't been this full of Russian military activity since the cold war and the recent forest fires have shown some alarming holes in the civil defense
- the schools; should the national government take back control from the municipalities?
- the reduced VAT for restaurants and other tax breaks
- environmental issues
- social justice and women's rights
- weapons manufacturing: we have this indigenous fighter jet (among other things) for historical reasons, but exporting weapons isn't a thing the political left likes
- infrastructure: car traffic is on the decline but we keep building horrifically expensive highways, and making the trains run on time again after the latest round of privatizations seems like a Herculean task

Currently, the polls are looking like the right-wing alliance will lose its government position and the social democrats will come back into power, albeit heavily dependent on the green party and the left party.

My analysis: They are all hosed.

S wants to get into power, preferably by associating with MP and hopefully FP. Since they lost the last election by taking a too large turn to the left they are now trying to be exactly like M. They are also trying to stay away from V. If S wins, there will likely be major chaos in the after-election negotiations, since there are major disagreements betwen S and MP. My bet S+MP+FP, where FP sells out the other parties in their ruling coalition aided by a change in party leader. They will likely not get a majority of the votes.
M+FP+C+KD are trailing S+V+MP in the polls by 10%, but are likely to recover some of it prior to the election. It is still not going to give them a majority of the seats, since M is bleeding social conservative voters to SD.
SD is probably going to do a better election than 2010, and might reach the position of third largest party. They are not going to get any influence after the election regardless, since some coalition have to be formed to keep them out.

I am expecting a Danish situation after the election, where S+V+MP are leading the polls due to people being tired of the current coalition. A coalition of these parties will not be able to fulfill their promises and there will likely be major controversies after the election, especially if they don't get a majority vote.
Meanwhile the cost of immigration is rapidly rising and will eliminate any space in the budget for major reforms.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 10:06

Sulphagnist: Oct 10, 2006; WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED

It's always fascinating how well I can map the Finnish party system into the Swedish party system. The only notable differences are that

- the Sverigedemokraterna are not agrarian in origin like the Finnish Perussuomalaiset (they're originally a splinter of the agrarian party),
- our tiny parties never get more than two percent of the vote,
- the liberals have been gobbled up by our mainstream neoliberal-conservative party,
- and the Centre Party (formerly the Agrarian League!) have a bigger share of the vote and are basically one of a "big three" with the SDs and the neoliberal party.

We even have the Party Formerly Known as the Communist Party.

Oh and you guys don't have a Finnish People's Party :v:

# ? Aug 12, 2014 10:08

nagel: Sep 19, 2005; We formed a wall once.

Most articles seem to think that an Alliance split seems highly unlikely, especially since the usual alliance of S with FP and/or C support feels a bit weird, as M is closer to S policies than both FP and C.

My semi-educated guess is a S & MP minority government with silent support of V, and perhaps in certain issues, getting the votes of either C, FP or M, like the Alliance and MP in regards to certain immigration issues. They will be able to govern since the Alliance parties hates SD which will grab some 10% of the vote.

My predictions:
S will probably get some 32-35%, MP 9-12% (if S gets 35 MP will not get 12, and vice versa) while the left gobbles up enough to just make it around 48-49%, FI will get 3-3,9%

The alliance will get tops 40% with KD just managing to get it, I believe that they will be gone by 2018.

I'm more on the left side (voted FI in the Euros) and I like MP but I'm also pro-nuclear which is not at all very popular on the left. I'm also not loyal at all, this will be my seventh election (4 national, two euro so far) and I've never voted for the same party twice.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 10:29

LemonDrizzle: Mar 28, 2012; neoliberal shithead

I keep doing a double-take at the SD acronym because I always assume it refers to the social democrats rather than Sweden Democrats. Perhaps the latter should get a new acronym - DNN for definitely not nazis?

Are there any parties besides folkpartiet who are strongly in favour of expanding Sweden's use of nuclear power, perhaps without the "Folkpartiet vill... att det �r privata f�retag som ska initiera och finansiera framtida nya k�rnkraftsreaktorer" sentiment?

# ? Aug 12, 2014 11:04

Cardiac: Aug 28, 2012

nagel posted:

Most articles seem to think that an Alliance split seems highly unlikely, especially since the usual alliance of S with FP and/or C support feels a bit weird, as M is closer to S policies than both FP and C.

FP and C have traditionally collaborated with S, and going back to that is not unlikely, especially if either party changes party leader.
One of the secrets behind the dominance of S (a party that only have had absolute majority once), is that S have bargained with various parties and been able to play them versus one another.

nagel posted:

My semi-educated guess is a S & MP minority government with silent support of V, and perhaps in certain issues, getting the votes of either C, FP or M, like the Alliance and MP in regards to certain immigration issues. They will be able to govern since the Alliance parties hates SD which will grab some 10% of the vote.

S+MP is pretty likely, however Sj�stedt, the leader of V, have explicitly said that if they are not part of the ruling coalition they will vote against it. Whether this is true when push comes to shove will be interesting to see. The resulting fallout will be hilarious to see.

nagel posted:

My predictions:
S will probably get some 32-35%, MP 9-12% (if S gets 35 MP will not get 12, and vice versa) while the left gobbles up enough to just make it around 48-49%, FI will get 3-3,9%

The alliance will get tops 40% with KD just managing to get it, I believe that they will be gone by 2018.

I'm more on the left side (voted FI in the Euros) and I like MP but I'm also pro-nuclear which is not at all very popular on the left. I'm also not loyal at all, this will be my seventh election (4 national, two euro so far) and I've never voted for the same party twice.

Pretty much the end result I see as well.
I believe Fi is hosed in the general election, since there are too many crazies in that party. The Euro election have sofar had alternative parties getting a lot of votes, since the number of voters are less and people doesn't care as much. This election was Fi, previous Pirateparty and prior to that Junilistan.

LemonDrizzle posted:

Are there any parties besides folkpartiet who are strongly in favour of expanding Sweden's use of nuclear power, perhaps without the "Folkpartiet vill... att det �r privata f�retag som ska initiera och finansiera framtida nya k�rnkraftsreaktorer" sentiment?

Well, both S and M are likely to be in favour of more or refurbished nuclear power plants, but have to get the support from minor parties which fucks it up, since both C and MP are pretty adamant versus more nuclear power. MP for once have said that they are going to close down one plant if they get in the ruling coalition.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 12:09

Kamrat: Nov 27, 2012; Thanks for playing Alone in the dark 2.

Now please fuck off

Cardiac posted:

Additions: They are trying to pick upp disgruntled S voters that are unhappy with S triangulation of M.

It's actually working somewhat, my grandmother who's always been a Social Democrat is now voting for the Left Party because she feels that they are what the Social Democrats used to be, she's frequently saying that the Social Democrats have gone to far to the right.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 12:23

His Divine Shadow: Aug 7, 2000; I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

Aliquid posted:

Why is education privatization such a Thing in Sweden? It's only recently caught on in the States, facing a larger resistance than I thought possible from us.

As I understand it they started ruining their schools in the 90s with "free choice schooling" or some such, basically it allowed parents to decide where to send their children to school. Here in Finland and before in Sweden, where you lived decided where you went to school.

The natural result of this is that schools started turning into good schools where the rich sent their kids, and bad schools where the immigrants and other poors who couldn't afford or bother to send their kids further to good schools.

This is my outside perspective anyway, also they allowed private schools back then too, but I think the "free school choice" is considered the primary culprit in undermining the quality and equality of education in sweden.

I also know lots of people satying they'd vote Social democrat but are too fearful of S having an alliance with the greens.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 12:32

Cardiac: Aug 28, 2012

His Divine Shadow posted:

As I understand it they started ruining their schools in the 90s with "free choice schooling" or some such, basically it allowed parents to decide where to send their children to school. Here in Finland and before in Sweden, where you lived decided where you went to school.
The natural result of this is that schools started turning into good schools where the rich sent their kids, and bad schools where the immigrants and other poors who couldn't afford or bother to send their kids further to good schools.
This is my outside perspective anyway, also they allowed private schools back then too, but I think the "free school choice" is considered the primary culprit in undermining the quality and equality of education in sweden.

Free choice schooling had little to do with the schools going down.
In the 90s, G�ran Persson, then in charge of education, later prime minister, moved the responsibility of the schools from the state to the municipalities, which put local politicians with no education whatsoever in charge of the schools. The school is actually the major part of a municipalitys budget and for some municipalities they probably used some of that money for other purposes.
There were also no requirement for a teacher to have a teachers education, which devalued the profession. The authority of the teachers was also undermined, which caused problems with order in the class rooms.

Currently the situation is that we are separating students based on their parents education, since educated parents have no inclination to put their children in schools which lack order and good teachers. Traditionally the better students made weaker students better, but this is probably no longer the case since they go to different schools depending on their parents. School is still free in Sweden, so money has little to do which school you go to, and smarter immigrants send their children to better schools. Swedish schools are among the most disorderly in the EU, and schools in poorer areas have a failure rate of 80-90%.

Currently the left (mostly V and MP) say that "private" (they are not really private as per foreign standard) schools are bad, because they make profit and making profit based on tax payers money. Part of this is the current ruling coalitions fault, since they have been lousy (not only in the school) of making demands and regualating how things are run. Seriously, it took them 4 years before they realized they needed to regulate and control schools.

The whole school problem is a lot more complex than just free schools, and you could say that teachers wages, the quality of the teachers (especially within natural sciences), the (dis)order in the classroom, the working duties of teachers (which is a mix of teacher and social worker) are all important variables in the failure of the Swedish school. Currently many parties want fewer student per teacher, completly ignoring Sweden have among the lowest number of students per teacher in EU.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 13:02

Fabulous Knight: Nov 11, 2011

And here in Finland we've had a bit of a surge in a general feel of dissatisfaction with the "welfare state". Many people seem to feel that we have a nanny state that tries to control every single aspect of our lives and is therefore practically a dictatorship. Never mind that we're apparently living in some kind of paradise (albeit a frozen one) when measured internationally, I can't even drink my fokkin beer in peace anymore and it's time to do away with this nanny state! And Britain had a poo poo ton of privatization in the 80s and Britain is cool and democratic and everyone is now happier there than they were in the 80s so we want to be like them now. Coincidentally we have right-wing rule (by Nordic standards) for the first time in ages now.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 13:07

nagel: Sep 19, 2005; We formed a wall once.

Cardiac posted:

FP and C have traditionally collaborated with S, and going back to that is not unlikely, especially if either party changes party leader.
One of the secrets behind the dominance of S (a party that only have had absolute majority once), is that S have bargained with various parties and been able to play them versus one another.

S+MP is pretty likely, however Sj�stedt, the leader of V, have explicitly said that if they are not part of the ruling coalition they will vote against it. Whether this is true when push comes to shove will be interesting to see. The resulting fallout will be hilarious to see.

Pretty much the end result I see as well.
I believe Fi is hosed in the general election, since there are too many crazies in that party. The Euro election have sofar had alternative parties getting a lot of votes, since the number of voters are less and people doesn't care as much. This election was Fi, previous Pirateparty and prior to that Junilistan.

My vote for FI was like a middle finger towards UKIP, Le Pen, Jobbik, SD etc etc, and not specifically because of their policies, which mostly range from pie in the sky to "what?" One MP in the European Parliament is most likely not going to make a whole lot of difference, but 17 MPs in the Riksdag might. Yeah Sj�stedt is playing hardball, I believe that he'll not be in the government, but they will not vote against L�fven and S, is my guess. They will probably accept some Riksdag committee on the privatization issue, in exchange for supporting an S+MP government. Fridolin as education minister, Romson as environmental minister?

Regarding nuclear, FP is 100% for it, M and S are both pro, I believe, but not really willing to admit it, SD I don't know, and the rest are super against, as they can't tell the difference between nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. FP published a debate article in DN( biggest morning newspaper) for the 2010 election, calling for more education options for future nuclear engineers, not sure what their plan is now.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 13:15

Cake Smashing Boob: Nov 5, 2008; I support black genocide

Kamrat posted:

It's actually working somewhat, my grandmother who's always been a Social Democrat is now voting for the Left Party because she feels that they are what the Social Democrats used to be, she's frequently saying that the Social Democrats have gone to far to the right.

As am I. And she's right.

Cake Smashing Boob fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Aug 12, 2014

# ? Aug 12, 2014 14:43

Ler: Mar 23, 2005; I believe...

I don't live in Sweden any longer so can't say I've been keeping up with the politics at all, but I can attest to one thing the OP wrote about the Centerpartiet having Libertarians: I lived next door to Hanna Wagenius - Libertarian through and through. It was also remarkably easy to make her angry over the smallest thing, quite the temper.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 14:59

Lawman 0: Aug 17, 2010

Ler posted:

I don't live in Sweden any longer so can't say I've been keeping up with the politics at all, but I can attest to one thing the OP wrote about the Centerpartiet having Libertarians: I lived next door to Hanna Wagenius - Libertarian through and through. It was also remarkably easy to make her angry over the smallest thing, quite the temper.

Please tell me about Swedish 'libertarians' I'm actually curious to how well they compare to US libertarians.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 15:27

White Rock: Jul 14, 2007; Creativity flows in the bored and the angry!

Cardiac posted:

Free choice schooling had little to do with the schools going down...

I wouldn't undersell the effect free choice schooling (Fri Skola) has had on the Swedish school system. The number of fri skolor has exploded since their inception with someone areas having more fri skols than municipal schools. Fri Skolor can say no to handicapped kids as well as underperforming and kids with mental disabilities, something that municipal schools can't. Schools run by hedge funds try to bait kids with free laptops and the rake in huge amount of profits. It's a bit hosed up to see public schooling as an industry as these people do.

V's election film about Swedish fri skolor and their hedge fund driven ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwgrNDK1FIg

See also weird cost cutting methods, like kunskapskolans sending kids of to falun to have wood shop, sewing class, cooking and drawing lessons, meaning the students only have one cooking lesson per term or sometimes even year!

Welfare and hedge funds don't mix.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 16:04

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

That and often the Fri Skolor were once municipal schools sold out by local politicians on the cheap (very cheap) to either business-bros or other former-politicians. Something similar going on with homes for the elderly (and whatever else they can get their hands on).

Other fav: Outsourcing a lot of the Arbetsf�rmedling (employment agency/job centre) work to (a shitload of) private contractors on the taxpayers dime. The biggest scam running (not that it's entirely an invention of the current government).

# ? Aug 12, 2014 16:10

ditty bout my clitty: May 28, 2011; by FactsAreUseless; Fun Shoe

Lawman 0 posted:

Please tell me about Swedish 'libertarians' I'm actually curious to how well they compare to US libertarians.

In Sweden, a libertarian is someone who picks up a pound note from the sidewalk and doesn't immediately donate it to the nearest womens shelter.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 16:12

Gyre: Feb 25, 2007

Thanks for the OP, my gf is Swedish and I've been trying to understand their politics but there are a lot of details to remember, especially when you're used to a two party system. She plans to vote S in the next elections after becoming disillusioned with V's foreign policy after the EU elections.

EDIT: Speaking of which, all I got from her grumbling was something about the V�nsterpartiet preferring Cuba to the US in some way. Can someone tell me what their foreign policy actually is?

Gyre fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Aug 12, 2014

# ? Aug 12, 2014 16:25

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

Gyre posted:

Thanks for the OP, my gf is Swedish and I've been trying to understand their politics but there are a lot of details to remember, especially when you're used to a two party system. She plans to vote S in the next elections after becoming disillusioned with V's foreign policy after the EU elections.

EDIT: Speaking of which, all I got from her grumbling was something about the V�nsterpartiet preferring Cuba to the US in some way. Can someone tell me what their foreign policy actually is?

This is pretty recent and on their own site:

quote:

-V�nsterpartiet Is clear, we want to change the government on September 14. But for us, it will not suffice to Carl Bildt bank their moving boxes at the State Department. We also want to change course in Swedish foreign policy.

When Hans Linde today participated in the parliamentary foreign policy debate undistributed he sharply criticized the incumbent government and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, in particular. This applies particularly to aid policy, the increasingly hollowed-alignment and on arms exports.
- During the bourgeois government's first six years in power they sold weapons to the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia for more than 4 billion, neighboring Uniting Arab Emirates during the same period bought Swedish weapons for 1.7 billion and Pakistan have been armed for 7 billion, noted Hans Linde.
- But that's enough. We want the next government is developing a new stark law for Swedish arms exports that clearly and without exception prohibits arms sales to dictatorships, warring states and regimes that commit gross and massive violations of human rights.

Hans Linde was very clear that the Left wants the next government will pursue a foreign policy based in solidarity, and he pointed out that economic inequality is increasing rapidly; currently owns the 85 richest people as much as the 3.5 billion poorest people on earth
- Women and men around the world who know poverty, hunger and oppression in their everyday life to know that they have an ally in our country.
Hans Linde also raised capital flight, trade union rights, the recognition of Palestine and Western Sahara and that the Left wants to see Sweden actively engaged in efforts to find a political solution to the conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Colombia and Somalia.

Today's major foreign news was of course the Ukraine, and Hans Linde took up the serious situation there.
- We want Sweden to stand up for cooperation and dialogue with the EU's southern as well as eastern neighborhood and lets work for human rights prevail over narrow self-interests in Egypt and Tunisia, as well as in Ukraine, the Caucasus and Belarus. It emphasizes not least the terrible developments in Ukraine.

In his speech, emphasized Hans Linde to Left Party foreign policy is a feminist foreign policy. The next government should work together with civil society to develop a new and sharp Swedish Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security. Also LGBTQ perspective was of course.
- We want the brave LGBT activists around the world are fighting for their right to express their sexuality, gender identity and expression to feel that they have a friend in Sweden's next government. While we are outraged over developments in Russia and Uganda, such assistance has decreased in recent years to the very organizations working with LGBTQ issues.

Towards the end of the speech addressed to Hans Linde (S) and Urban Ahlin, arguing that the Social Democrats now face a crossroads.
- Without the cooperation with other parties, you can not govern this country. If you choose to rule with bourgeois parties, you will not be able to pursue a foreign policy based in solidarity, equality and peace. And therefore, the question is to Urban Ahlin - will you recognize Palestine along with the Liberal Party? Will you protect military alliances with Jan Bj�rklund? Or should you try to ban arms sales to dictatorships together with The Center?
- A strong Left Party is the guarantor for the election on September 14 not only means that we replace minister at the State Department - but we also lay the foundation for an independent Swedish foreign policy grounded in solidarity, justice and equality.

And on the EU:

quote:

The Left is opposed to Europe and worked on no side before the 1994 referendum, we respect the outcome of the referendum, but have no reason to change our position of principle.

The Left believes that the EU restricts democracy. In the EU's decision-making structure has people very little opportunity to demand accountability from those in power. EU lacks a public law that we have in Sweden. For citizens of the EU, and not least for journalists, it is very difficult to examine the power and the exercise of power within the EU. The judiciary as the ECJ has means, unlike the Swedish courts, the right to deliver judgments that will direct legislative, not least in matters relating to the internal market. Celebrating Europe therefore not the minimum requirements of a democracy.

We criticize the EU to prioritize the internal market interests over the environment, labor rights, public health and consumer interests. European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has in several decisions established that priority.

The Left believes that the priority must be the reverse: Labour law, the environment, consumer protection and public health must prevail over corporate and market interests.

To ensure that the right to strike is protected and exempted from the internal market rules the ETUC has called for a so-called social protocol to be adopted by the EU. The Social Protocol would be legally binding. Left fully supports this requirement so far been rejected by the EU.

EU seeks to build a superstate, a United States of Europe, with common foreign policy and defense. This is even more evident after the so-called Lisbon Treaty was adopted by the EU. Increasingly, power is transferred from elected national parliaments to the EU institutions. EU law precedence over national law. EU will be able to pass laws and control policy in more and more areas. The Left is opposed to the Lisbon Treaty with its common foreign policy, common defense and of rearmament. We believe that Sweden, and work for peace and disarmament, benefit from our country's military non-alignment is guaranteed.

Left worked with the victorious No side in the 2003 referendum on membership in the economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Today we can see how right no side had. The monetary union has created and deepened economic problems in several euro area countries since EMU countries impose an economic policy, interest rate and exchange rate which does not suit them. The solution to that problem is more national sovereignty over economic policy, not less.

The crisis must be resolved. EU principle to privatize profits and socialize the losses will not work. The banks have to bear the debt they created. Government bank guarantees should only cover savers' money, not speculation. The debtor countries have to write down their debts, so that economic development can be reversed. The countries that so wish must get leave the currency union, and thereby be able to adjust the exchange rate and the interest rate to the real situation. It also requires the control and taxation of the global financial markets.

This policy needs to be amended forthwith. It requires massive public and environmentally friendly investments in Europe to reverse the trend. Only then can mass unemployment and the deepening crisis combated.

On Cuba, from Motion 2009/10:U202

quote:

6.1.5 Cuba

Few countries, if any, in Latin America get so much attention in Sweden as Cuba. But developments in Cuba is not unambiguous, significant social progress has been achieved while the violations of civil rights is extensive. The negative meaning of the United States blockade against Cuba can not be underestimated.

Cuba does not meet the necessary requirements to be placed in a democracy, and violations of human rights continue to occur, speech, press and assembly are severely limited and the lack of ability to form and / or organize themselves in free and independent trade unions. Amnesty International reports that there are still 57 Cuban prisoners of conscience, which unequivocally is 57 too many. The Left wants to see a democratization and greater respect for human rights in Cuba, but such a process must be shaped by the Cuban people themselves.

The Left looks simultaneously to social progress in post-revolutionary Cuba. Cuba live in many respects up to the economic, social and cultural rights contained in the UN Convention on Human Rights. Cuba also operates an extensive social solidarity in many Latin American countries as estimated by the continent's poor and sick. Even when it comes to sustainable development excels Cuba. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) annual report "Living Planet Report 2006" Cuba is the only country in the world to live up to the criteria of sustainable development, both in terms of social welfare as an ecological footprint.

But that Cuba has made social progress does not excuse in any way the shortcomings of civil rights on the island. But neither can the economic blockade that has been kept alive by the United States in decades excused by reference to human rights violations in Cuba. The blockade is, among much else, a strong disincentive to the development of democracy and should not be supported. It also affects millions of Cubans the opportunity to access to medicines and medical techniques, and is therefore crucial for their health. To this can be attached to various UN programs on numerous occasions has suffered indented supplies of vaccines, syringes and other medical devices when manufacturers learned that products and materials are meant to be used on Kuba.3

Left parts of the UN General Assembly's criticism of the United States blockade against Cuba. In October last year voted basically all of the 192 members once again for a repeal of the USA economic blockade, embargo and financial blockade. Only the United States, Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau voted against. Amnesty denotes embargo immoral and believes that it should be lifted. Left share this view. It is completely unacceptable that a government, in this case the United States, decides on sanctions that so obviously affects an entire population. The Swedish government must clearly condemn the blockade and demand that the United States immediately cancel the same. This should be the parliament that the government give their views known.

Pimpmust fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Aug 12, 2014

# ? Aug 12, 2014 16:31

Gyre: Feb 25, 2007

Pimpmust posted:

On Cuba, from Motion 2009/10:U202

She's very, very critical of the UN, so this (and the Palestine thing, which is also UN-based) explains it.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 16:46

Cardiac: Aug 28, 2012

White Rock posted:

I wouldn't undersell the effect free choice schooling (Fri Skola) has had on the Swedish school system. The number of fri skolor has exploded since their inception with someone areas having more fri skols than municipal schools. Fri Skolor can say no to handicapped kids as well as underperforming and kids with mental disabilities, something that municipal schools can't. Schools run by hedge funds try to bait kids with free laptops and the rake in huge amount of profits. It's a bit hosed up to see public schooling as an industry as these people do.

It is not like the schools of the municipalities are so great either, just look at what happened in K�vlinge.
As for the problematic kids and the hedge funds, well that is just proof of how incompetent our current ruling coalition is at setting up controls and regulate things. This is not the only area where they fail dramatically with this.
I don't see any problem with schools making profit as long as they provide a good education. Enforcing schools to accept problematic children and having libraries for example are things that would reduce profit margins and would eliminate unresponsible companies.

Regardless, stopping schools from making profit is the lefts simple solution that is not going to solve anything at all.
There are a number of bigger problems (wages, recruitment, bureacracy and the competence of teacher) that are much more complex to solve, and these are not discussed as much since they don't fit so well into the ideology of the Swedish left.

Pimpmust posted:

That and often the Fri Skolor were once municipal schools sold out by local politicians on the cheap (very cheap) to either business-bros or other former-politicians. Something similar going on with homes for the elderly (and whatever else they can get their hands on).
Other fav: Outsourcing a lot of the Arbetsf�rmedling (employment agency/job centre) work to (a shitload of) private contractors on the taxpayers dime. The biggest scam running (not that it's entirely an invention of the current government).

Yeah, the current coalition have created an environment where private companies benefit from the taxpayers money. However I fail to see the difference from S, that have a long history of giving jobs to their own cronies.
As for Arbetsf�rmedling, no one gets any jobs from that anymore and some part of it might as well be outsourced.

It is kinda funny what the left is complaining about when it comes to privatization. They focus on healthcare and schools, while completetly ignoring construction (which is an oligopoly in Sweden) and private housing contractors for immigrants (that charge massive rates for housing immigrants waiting processing).

Ilustforponydeath posted:

In Sweden, a libertarian is someone who picks up a pound note from the sidewalk and doesn't immediately donate it to the nearest womens shelter.

Libertarians in Sweden wants minimal taxes, a nightwatch state, no government surveillance, free drugs and to download copyrighted stuff without fear of punishment.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 12:16

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

Cardiac posted:

Yeah, the current coalition have created an environment where private companies benefit from the taxpayers money. However I fail to see the difference from S, that have a long history of giving jobs to their own cronies.
As for Arbetsf�rmedling, no one gets any jobs from that anymore and some part of it might as well be outsourced.

It is kinda funny what the left is complaining about when it comes to privatization. They focus on healthcare and schools, while completetly ignoring construction (which is an oligopoly in Sweden) and private housing contractors for immigrants (that charge massive rates for housing immigrants waiting processing).

Agreed, we should deport Bert Karlsson (ironically the guy that started up the previous version of our current xenophobic populist party; Ny Demokrati).

Never claimed that the Social Democrats didn't have their own finger in that lucrative privatisation pie, G�ran Persson was all for that stuff.

As for the Arbetsf�rmedling, my point was that they should use the money to reinforce and fix that department rather than outsourcing it for even more money.

Pimpmust fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Aug 13, 2014

# ? Aug 13, 2014 16:20

Bates: Jun 15, 2006

Pimpmust posted:

As for the Arbetsf�rmedling, my point was that they should use the money to reinforce and fix that department rather than outsourcing it for even more money.

We allowed private companies to run the equivalent of the Arbetsf�rmedling in Denmark and it was a complete failure. One by one they've basically been fired by the local councils for being lovely. A few municipalities had the good sense to write contracts that stipulated fines for not reaching targets so they came out alright.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 16:33

Koorisch: Mar 29, 2009

One thing to notice about the SD is that they were actual nazis in the 80's-90's, they were Skinheads going around kicking in heads rather than the numbskull closet nazis they are today as they tried to clean up their image.

Sadly it seems people are just as stupid as ever to vote for them at all.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 17:12

Bates: Jun 15, 2006

Koorisch posted:

Sadly it seems people are just as stupid as ever to vote for them at all.

If limiting immigration is an important issue to a lot of Swedes it might be sensible to give them an alternative to actual nazis to vote for.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 17:41

Cake Smashing Boob: Nov 5, 2008; I support black genocide

This is my take on the parties. You probably shouldn't (and don't) give a poo poo, but here it is:

Parties in Sweden are traditionally divided into two groups; Borgare (literally: �the bourgeoisie�) and Socialists. This only really makes sense in a Swedish context, but whatever.

Borgerliga Blocket (i.e bourgeois motherfuckers, currently also in coalition forming a minority government):

Moderaterna (Moderate Party)
Ideology: Liberalism, conservatism. :downs:

Right wing money-crowd. Current chairman and Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt, deposed the old guard, pushed the party to the political center and won a bunch of elections. Notable wingmen are Carl Bildt (foreign minister and possible cold war sleeper agent) and Anders Borg (minister of finance, used to have a pony tail but is now completely unremarkable). Top issues are unemployment, job creation and FYGM.

Wants: Money.
Voter base: Men, Money.

Folkpartiet Liberalerna (Liberal People's Party).
Ideology: Liberalism, social liberalism.

Spent 8 years trying to fix our schools. Actually made them worse, but that's okay, because now, this time, they're actually fixing them, honest. Plus, it was all really the Social Democrats fault anyway, if you think about it. Headed by former military officer Jan Bj�rklund, the party has drifted from vaguely almost-leftist-kinda-social-liberal to right wing liberal. Top issues are schools and education. Also schools. They really care about schools.

Wants: Liberal stuff, like the freedom to choose between 15 different kinds of toothpaste, or what sort of vulture capitalist private school you'd like to ~~sell your children to~~ enroll your children in.
Voter base: Educated men and women. Presumably.

Centerpartiet (Centre Party).
Ideology: Liberalism, agrarianism, social liberalism, libertarianism, juche, conservatism, fascism, socialism with chinese characteristics, republicanism, anarchism, nationalism.

Formerly agrarian, the Centre Party is now a parody party that will be whatever the gently caress you want it to be, as long as you vote for them. In practice, this manifests as a core of mostly elderly agrarians looking lost and confused as chairman Annie L��f (whose southern dialect barely masks her mental retardation) and crew extolls the virtues of noted great thinker Ayn Rand, polygamy, flat tax or some other hilariously retarded thing. Top issues are whatever you want them to be, plus pigs or something.

Wants: To be put out of their misery.
Voter base: Rural Sweden and Inner City Stockholm.

Kristdemokraterna (Christian Democrats).
Ideology: Christian democracy.

A party of profoundly limited appeal and an unworkable party platform that has somehow clung to the 4% cutoff for ages. Spends most of their time blocking humane legislation and/or making big bucks on substandard privatized health care and/or retirement homes. Chairman G�ran H�gglund is actually witty. Doesn't help him much though, seeing as he's stuck with a hopeless party. Top issues are improving the care of elderly and reducing regulations for private enterprises.

Wants: For god to smite the unbelievers.
Voter base: Practicing christians, Moderates Party members/voters.

Socialists (and the Green Party):

Milj�partiet (Green Party)
Ideology: Green politics, social liberalism.

The bourgeois left, also called. This is what you vote for if you've got leftist sensibilities but also a lot of money/time/live in the big city/whatever. Since they are cool and hip and progressive they've actually got two chairmen, known as spokespersons, instead of just one. One is political prodigy Gustaf Fridolin, a 30-something dude who's something of a veteran despite his relative youth. He is generally viewed as competent, intelligent and charismatic. The other one is �sa Romson. She is a woman. Top issues are the enviroment, social justice... and some other things probably idk.

Wants: Peace on earth, sustainable environment, pyramid healing centers, drum circles, etc.
Voter base: Young educated women.

Socaldemokraterna (Social Democrats)
Ideology: Social democracy, social liberalism.

Social democratic worker's party. Plagued by internecine conflict ever since former �strong man� G�ran Persson resigned in 2007. Former welder and trade unionist Stefan L�fven has taken a page out of the formers book and made efforts to consolidate his position and keeping the rest of his party in line top priorities. Currently has the left wing of the party under lock and key. Reciprocates by toeing the party line even when it goes against his own convictions. Pissed off at the Moderate Party for stealing their "boring centrist statesmen" schtick. Top issues are unemployment, job creation and equality.

Wants: Power.
Voter base: Unionized blue collar workers.

V�nsterpartiet (Left Party).
Ideology: Socialism, Feminism.

Token socialist party. According to popular wisdom the party is made up entirely of queers, foreigners, women and secret communists. This is probably true. Current chairman Jonas Sj�stedts plan, to, essentially, be Social Democrats now that the Social Democrats won't, is paying off, and the party is expected to make some modest gains. Top issues are stopping private profits in the welfare sector and halting further privatizations.

Wants: Mandatory gay marriage and the complete destruction of Swedish society.
Voter base: Social Democrats.

Other:

Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats)

Honestly this (old and tired) .gif sums them up better than words could. I'll add that their voter base consists of uneducated males and people from the southern parts of Sweden.

Also, a bunch of people will probably disagree with my extensive in depth analysis above. Those people are probably also dumb, wrong and stupid idiots. :colbert:

Cake Smashing Boob fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Aug 14, 2014

# ? Aug 14, 2014 00:38

Ali Alkali: Apr 23, 2008

It is the most accurate one so far!

Antti posted:

- the Sverigedemokraterna are not agrarian in origin like the Finnish Perussuomalaiset (they're originally a splinter of the agrarian party)

Sverigedemokraterna definitely has their roots in the countryside of Sweden, most famously in the agrarian parts of Scania but also in former industrialized, now abandoned small municipality's all over the country. Usually those places least affected by immigration the last hundred years.

# ? Aug 14, 2014 05:10

Prav: Oct 29, 2011

I drove past this poster the other day and, well, just look at it. Look at this loving thing. Go on, full size it and just take it in.

("Feminism without Socialism")

# ? Aug 14, 2014 05:32

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

Benito Hitlerstalin posted:

Kristdemokraterna (Christian Democrats).
Ideology: Christian democracy.

A party of profoundly limited appeal and an unworkable party platform that has somehow clung to the 4% cutoff for ages. Spends most of their time blocking humane legislation and/or making big bucks on substandard privatized health care and/or retirement homes. Chairman G�ran H�gglund is actually witty. Doesn't help him much though, seeing as he's stuck with a hopeless party. Top issues are improving the care of elderly and reducing regulations for private enterprises.

Wants: For god to smite the unbelievers.
Voter base: Practicing christians, Moderates Party members/voters.

Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats)

The Christian Democrats should rebrand themselves as the "Religious

Democrats", with the stated goal to cater to the m�slimen hordes descending upon Sweden, not that I think that this will gain them many votes but because I will enjoy seeing SD go :supaburn:

Prav: There's another great FP poster like that, like "For the Schools" or some poo poo. Made me laugh. Also saw one where someone had put a big red magnetic sticker on Bj�rklunds nose so he looked like a clown.

# ? Aug 14, 2014 05:47

His Divine Shadow: Aug 7, 2000; I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

I disagree with the idea that SD has agrarian roots. While lots of SD strongholds are in smaller municipalities and towns, they're also mostly in Sk�ne or the south. The V�ster/Norrbotten area which is the most sparsely populated and most agrarian in the country are weak places for SD.

The places where SD seems strong are actually industrial (bruksorter) in nature rather than agrarian.

http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/politik/valet2010/har-ar-sd-storst-och-minst_5366905.svd

# ? Aug 14, 2014 06:35

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 05:59

Jim Bont: Apr 29, 2008; You were supposed to take those out of the deck.

I'm an expat Swede who hasn't lived there since 2009, I voted for the Greens last election now I'm split between them and the Left. The main source for Swedish politics I have is my dad and extended family, all of whom are M or FP voters who extol how well the Alliance did in handling the economy (both the fallout from the GFC and reforming the welfare system). Are there any articles anyone wants to post that debunks that or do people grudgingly admit Anders Borg is competent? Also what's going to happen to Reinfeldt if the right wing loses, will he stay/who's likely to replace him?

# ? Aug 14, 2014 07:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Scandinavian politics thread: All stereotypes welcome

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