Moderate Party
| Moderate Party Moderata samlingspartiet |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Fredrik Reinfeldt |
| Founded | 17 October 1904 |
| Headquarters | Stora Nygatan 30, Gamla stan, Stockholm |
| Membership | 55,612 (2009)[1] |
| Ideology | Liberal conservatism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| International affiliation | International Democrat Union |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament Group | European People's Party |
| Official colours | Blue |
| Parliament: |  |
| European Parliament: |  |
| Counties:[2] |  |
| Municipalities:[2] |  |
| Website | |
| www.moderat.se | |
| Politics of Sweden Political parties Elections |
|
The Moderate Party (Swedish: Moderata samlingspartiet: "the Moderate Coalition Party", commonly referred to in Swedish as Moderaterna: "the Moderates") is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden.[3] The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament. The party has had two other names during its history: the National Organization of the Right (1938–1952) and the Rightist Party (1952–1969).
Following the 2006 general election, where the party gained 26.23% of the vote, the party forms the major part of the government together with the other parties in the centre-right Alliance for Sweden: the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats. The current chairman of the party is Fredrik Reinfeldt, who is also Prime Minister of Sweden. Reinfeldt has been credited for having moved the party more towards the centre in Swedish politics, which is also reflected by its own claim of being the "New Moderates".[4]
Contents |
Early history
The party was founded on 17 October 1904 in a restaurant called Runan in Stockholm. The intention was to start a campaign organization in support of the group of Conservatives which had emerged in the Riksdag. During the 19th century conservatives had organised themselves in the Riksdag but there was no party to support them. The Swedish right-wing were also threatened by the rise of the Social Democrats (founded in 1889) and the Liberals (1902). The party was called the General Electoral League (Swedish: Allmänna valmansförbundet).
At first the party was clearly nationalist and staunchly conservative. The importance of a strong defense was underlined and other societal institutions embraced by the party were the monarchy and the state of law. The party held initially a protectionist view towards the economy, tariffs were widely supported as well as interventionist economical measures such as agricultural subsidies. In the defence policy crisis in 1914, the party sided with the King.
Arvid Lindman (often called "The Admiral") became influential in the party and was Prime Minister of Sweden twice. In 1907 he proposed universal male suffrage to the parliament and in 1912 he was formally elected leader. But the party voted against universal suffrage and the party again voted against women's right to vote. It was only because the party was in minority that Sweden was able to grant the right to vote for all, pushed through by the liberals and the left, against the objections of the right. Although not one of the founders of the party and not a prominent ideologist, Lindman and his achievements as a leader are often appreciated as being of great importance for the new party. His leadership was marked by a consolidation of the Swedish right, and by transforming the party into a modern, effective, political movement. Lindman was a very pragmatic politician, but without losing his principles. He was a formidable negotiator and peace-broker. For this he was widely respected, even by his fiercest political opponents and when he resigned and left the parliament in 1935, the leader of the Social Democrats, Per Albin Hansson, expressed his "honest thanks over the battle lines".
Since the beginning of the 20th century, socialism and the socialist labour movement rose to replace liberalism as the major political force for radical reforms. The party intensified its opposition to socialism during the leadership of Lindman - the importance of continuance and strengthening national business were cornerstones. But at the same time, recent social issues gained significant political attention; by appeasing the working class, the party also hoped to reduce the threat of revolutionary tendencies. During the governments led by Lindman, several reforms for social progress were made, and it was his first government that initiated the public state pension.
In 1928 the party achieved its best election result to date - 29,4 %. At this time, the Swedish right had slowly started to move towards a classical liberal view on economic issues, under influence by mainly the liberal economist Gustav Cassel, but the economic downturn following the Great Depression frustrated the possible liberal transition of the economic policy. Despite that the party gained success in the general election of 1928, often called the Cossack Election, on a clearly anti-socialist program, the government later formed by the party did not respect the concept of market economy, but continued the protectionist policy by generous financial aid. The government also started a complete regulation of the agriculture. Producation associations, with the objective to administer the regulations and to run monopolies on imports, were also established during the period. All leading up to a corporate control of the Swedish economy unpassed since the popularisation of liberalism at the end of the 19th century.[5]. The government under Lindman fell in 1930 after the Social Democrats and the Freeminded People's Party had blocked a proposition for raised customs duty on grain.
The 1930s saw also the party in conflict over how to relate to Nazism. Its youth organisation, the National Youth League of Sweden (Swedish: Sveriges Nationella Ungdomsförbund) was openly pro-Nazi and set up uniformed "fighting groups" to combat political enemies on the streets. The mother party did not like this development, with Lindman clearly stating that pro-nazi views were not to be accepted in the party, and in 1933 the National Youth League was separated from the party. While the party set up a new youth league, which came to be called The Young Swedes (to date the largest youth league in Sweden in terms of membership), the old one formed its own party - the National League of Sweden - which fought elections as an openly pro-Nazi party.
The party participated in the Third cabinet of Per Albin Hansson during the Second World War. It was a grand coalition including all major parties, only excluding the pro-Soviet Communist Party and the slightly pro-Nazi Socialist Party, both parties being members of the parliament 1936-1940.
The Rightist Party
.JPG)
In 1934 the Social Democrats formed a new government and with the only exception of the period during the Second World War, they came to stay in power until 1976. From having been a ruling party, the General Electoral League turned into a bastion of right-wing opposition, and in 1938 it was renamed the National Organization of the Right (Swedish: Högerns riksorganisation), a name that in 1952 was changed in favor of simply the Rightist Party (Swedish: Högerpartiet).
After the Second World War, the party gradually lost support and the Liberal People's Party rose to become the second party after the Social Democrats, but at the beginning of the 1950s, the Rightist Party reemerged. Under the leadership of Jarl Hjalmarson (1950–1961) the party became an important voice against the rising levels of taxation and a defender of private ownership from, what the party saw as, the growing tendences of state centralization.
The party had significant success in the elections during the 1950s and became the largest party of the opposition in 1958. But the next decade brought changes to the political climate ot Sweden. The election of 1968 gave the Social Democracts an absolute majority in the parliament and reduced the Rightist Party to become the smallest party of opposition. The turbulent year of 1968 had made the ideological agenda of the party seem extreme and the party renamed itself the Moderate Coalition Party (Swedish: Moderata samlingspartiet, generally just referred to as Moderaterna) in 1969.
Recent decades
In 1970 Gösta Bohman was elected leader. During his leadership the party started to move from traditionalist conservatism towards liberal conservatism, which continues to this day. Bohman proved an successul leader and in 1976 the non-socialist opposition won the election. The Moderate Party joined the government under Thorbjörn Fälldin, with Gösta Bohman as Minister of Economy. The non-socialist parties managed to remain in power until 1982 in different constellations, but the election of 1979 again made the Moderate Party become the second party after the Social Democrats, a position it has held since then. Gösta Bohman was in 1981 replaced by Ulf Adelsohn.
In 1986, Carl Bildt was elected leader of the party. A son-in-law of Bohman, he managed to lead the party to an election victory in 1991. The Moderate Party led a non-socialist coalition between 1991 and 1994 with Carl Bildt as Prime Minister. The Cabinet of Carl Bildt did much to reform the Swedish government: cut taxes, cut public spending, introduced voucher schools, made it possible for counties to privatize health care, liberalized markets for telecommunications and energy, and privatized former publicly owned companies (further de-regulations and privatizations were carried out by the following Social Democratic Cabinet of Göran Persson). The negotiations for membership with the EU was also finalised.
The party gained votes in 1994, but the governing coalition lost its majority. Bildt stayed on as the Moderate party leader, but the non-socialist parties lost the election in 1998 as well. Bo Lundgren replaced him and led the party in the disastrous election of 2002. Fredrik Reinfeldt was elected as the new party leader in 2003.
With the general election of 2006 the Moderates formed a coalition government with the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats.
Ideology
The Moderate Party states that its ideology is a mix of liberalism and conservatism, and corresponds to what is called liberal conservatism. The term liberalism is in Sweden and most of Europe not used in the way that it is currently used in the United States to denote progressives, but is closer to the traditional meaning of classical liberalism.
The Party thus supports free markets, privatisation, personal freedom, tax cuts for job creation and reduction of the public-sector growth rate, while still embracing most of the social benefits introduced since the 1930s. The party emphasises issues such as actions against crime, to increase and promote the value of working, and quality in the educational system. The party supports the legalization of same-sex marriage in Sweden and it supports Sweden's membership in the European Union.
The party campaigned for changing currency to the Euro in the 2003 referendum, but its more radical youth league did however in 2007 decide to say no to a Swedish membership in the monetary union [6]. The official policy of Fredrik Reinfeldt in the issue, as of 2008, is that the result of the 2003 referendum has to be respected and that the issue will not be raised during the present term (-2010).[7]
Since Fredrik Reinfeldt became party leader, the party has slowly started to move further towards the political center and also adopted pragmatic views. The party has abandoned several of its old key features such as a proportional income tax and increased military spending. Its former characteristical, according to some slightly neo-liberal, criticism of the labour laws has changed towards conservatism regarding the Swedish model and a careful embracing of balance on the labour market[8].
The Party has postponed a decision on Swedish membership of NATO and will not push for NATO membership the next years. It also seeks to decrease, but make more effective, the spending on foreign aid.
Organization
The party is led by the party chairman who is also leader of the party. He or she is assisted by the board of the party.
The party is organised on national, county and municipal level. Each county sends delegates to the Party Congress, which is held every second year.
Young members are organised in the Moderate Youth League, but the party has no official separate student organisation, although the views of the party are closest to those of the Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students (FSMF). However, the FMSF is a fully independent organisation, so in order to tie students to its own organization, the Moderate Youth League founded in 2009 a national network for students, named Moderate Students, which has grown rapidly since then.
Senior citizens can join Moderate Seniors (Swedish: Moderata seniorer) and women can join Moderate Women (Swedish: Moderatkvinnor).
The Party a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the International Democrat Union (IDU).
Voter base
According to studies of Swedish electoral behaviour made at Göteborg University, the party has its strongest base around Stockholm and in Skåne. It is generally weak in the north of Sweden. Typical Moderate voters are white-collar workers and other private sector workers, usually with a higher-than-average income. The party has a stronger electoral support amongst men than amongst women.[9] A recent poll, as of May 2010, strongly indicates that the Moderate Party is the party that most young people between the age of 18 and 34 are likely to vote for in the upcoming election[10].
Party leaders
- Fredrik Östberg (1904–1905)
- Axel Svedelius (1905–1906)
- Hugo Tamm (1907+)
- Fredrik Östberg (1908–1912)
- Arvid Lindman (1912–1917)
- Olof Jonsson i Hov (1917)
- Arvid Lindman (1917–1935)
- Gösta Bagge (1935–1944)
- Fritiof Domö (1944–1950)
- Jarl Hjalmarson (1950–1961)
- Gunnar Heckscher (1961–1965)
- Yngve Holmberg (1965–1970)
- Gösta Bohman (1970–1981)
- Ulf Adelsohn (1981–1986)
- Carl Bildt (1986–1999)
- Bo Lundgren (1999–2003)
- Fredrik Reinfeldt (2003–present)
Party Secretaries since 1949
- Gunnar Svärd 1949-1961
- Yngve Holmberg 1961-1965
- Sam Nilsson 1965-1969
- Bertil af Ugglas 1969-1974
- Lars Tobisson 1974-1981
- Georg Danell 1981-1986
- Per Unckel 1986-1991
- Gunnar Hökmark 1991-1999
- Johnny Magnusson 1999-2003
- Sven Otto Littorin 2003-2006
- Per Schlingmann 2006–Present
First deputy party chairmen since 1935
- Bernhard Johansson i Fredrikslund 1935
- Martin Skoglund i Doverstorp 1935-1956
- Leif Cassel 1956-1965
- Gösta Bohman 1965-1970
- Staffan Burenstam Linder 1970-1981
- Lars Tobisson 1981-1999
- Chris Heister 1999-2003
- Gunilla Carlsson 2003-
Second deputy party chairmen since 1935
- Karl Magnusson i Skövde 1935
- Fritiof Domö 1935-1944
- Jarl Hjalmarson 1944-1950
- Knut Ewerlöf 1950-1958
- Gunnar Heckscher 1958-1961
- Rolf Eliasson 1961-1965
- Yngve Nilsson i Trobro 1965-1970
- Eric Krönmark 1970-1981
- Ella Tengbom-Velander 1981-1986
- Ingegerd Troedsson 1986-1993
- Gun Hellsvik 1993-1999
- Gunilla Carlsson 1999-2003
- Kristina Axén Olin 2003-
National ombudsmen
- Gustaf Gustafsson 1909 - 1913
- Karl Hammarberg 1913 - 1915
- Jonas Folcker 1915 - 1920
- Lennart Kolmodin 1920 - 1949
- Nils Hellström 1949 - 1965
See also
- Alliance for Sweden
- Politics of Sweden
- Prime Minister of Sweden
- Government of Sweden
- Parliament of Sweden
- Elections in Sweden
- Moderate Womens League of Sweden
References
Notes
- ↑ Cederholm, Robert; Eliasson, Anders (15 March 2010). "Partierna tappar medlemmar". SVT. http://svt.se/2.22620/1.1927298/partierna_tappar_medlemmar.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Allmänna val, valresultat". Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Pages/ProductTables____12275.aspx.
- ↑ Note that "liberal" has only the connotations of classical liberalism in Europe.
- ↑ Tandstad, Bent (18 September 2006). "Ein ny æra i svensk politikk". NRK. http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/verden/1.1009336.
- ↑ Norberg, J. (1999). Den svenska Liberalismens historia. Timbro. ISBN 9175664291.
- ↑ http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/artikel_258399.svd
- ↑ http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=913&a=452308
- ↑ http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1042&a=709343
- ↑ Allmänna valen Kap 4
- ↑ http://www.politikerbloggen.se/2010/05/10/30991/
External links
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
