Nordic Party Systems

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NORDIC PARTY SYSTEMS Nordic five-party model, a significant concept to evaluate and understand the Nordic countries’ political system, has been introduced by Sten Berglund and Ulf Lindström in 1978 in their book "The Scandinavian five party system(s): A comparative study". When it comes to analyze the distinctive features of Scandinavian party systems, five-party model plays an essential role along with strong social democrats, producer interest ties, traditionally strong class voting and well-organized mass parties (lecture, February 11). According to Lipset and Rokkan the emergence of the Nordic party system was realized under the influence of the four historic revolutions: the national revolution, the industrial revolution, the proletarian revolution and the communist revolution (Arter, pp.51-55). Rokkan categorizes national revolution by considering the relationship between church vs. state and center vs. periphery (lecture, February 11). The conflict among state and church derives from getting the control over education; however, the relationship between center and periphery consists of national independence, status of national and linguistic minorities, centralization of power (lecture, February 11). In addition, industrial revolutions shapes Nordic party systems due to the distinctions that it brought as workers vs. owners and urban vs. rural. These relationships have created the basis for the concepts of redistribution, welfare state, public ownership which are essential features of Nordic political model (lecture, February 11). Historically, the emergence of the Nordic party system can be traced back to 1870s characterized by two party politics: liberals vs. conservatives. The two party politics period lasted till 1900 wh... ... middle of paper ... ...ed by the emergence of radical right-wing populist parties whilst parties with a strong environmental appeal and those with a strong moral compass cannot readily be located on a conventional left-right spectrum (University of Oulu, Comparative Nordic Politics). BIBLIOGRAPHY David Arter, Scandinavian Politics Today. Second edition. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009 Kaare Strøm, Lecture Notes for University of California San Diego, Scandinavian Politics, 2014 Tapio Raunio, Lecture Notes for University of Oulu, Comparative Nordic Politics Tapio Raunio, Euroskepticism – Causes and Consequences, 1-2 July 2005, Amsterdam Berglund, S. & U. Lindström (1978): The Scandinavian Party System(s). Studentlitteratur, Lund Laakso, M. & R. Taagepera (1979): “Effective” Number of Parties: A Measure with Application to West Europe. Comparative Political Studies 12:1, 3-27

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