Liberalism and centrism in Sweden

Part of a series on
Liberalism
Schools History of liberalism Contributions to liberal theory
Ideas Civil and political rights Cultural liberalism Democracy Liberal democracy Economic liberalism Egalitarianism Free market Free trade Freedom of the press Freedom of religion Freedom of speech Gender equality Harm principle Internationalism Laissez-faire Liberty Market economy Natural and legal rights Negative / positive liberty Open society Permissive society Private property Rule of law Secularism Separation of church and state Social contract Welfare state
Variants Anarcho-capitalism Civic nationalism Classical liberalism Conservative liberalism Democratic liberalism Geolibertarianism Green liberalism Liberal feminism Equity feminism Liberal internationalism Liberal socialism Muscular liberalism Neoliberalism Ordoliberalism Right-libertarianism Radical centrism Radicalism Religious liberalism Christian Islamic Secular liberalism Social liberalism Technoliberalism
People Rifa'a al-Tahtawi Juan Bautista Alberdi Chu Anping Matthew Arnold Raymond Aron Frédéric Bastiat Simone de Beauvoir Jeremy Bentham Isaiah Berlin Eduard Bernstein William Beveridge Norberto Bobbio John Bright Edmund Burke Thomas Carlyle Anders Chydenius Nick Clegg Richard Cobden Marquis de Condorcet Benjamin Constant Benedetto Croce Ludwig Joseph Brentano Jean le Rond d'Alembert Ralf Dahrendorf John Dewey Charles Dickens Denis Diderot Zhang Dongsun Ronald Dworkin Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed Ralph Waldo Emerson Karl-Hermann Flach Milton Friedman John Kenneth Galbraith William Lloyd Garrison José Ortega y Gasset David Lloyd George William Gladstone Friedrich Hayek Thomas Hobbes L.T. Hobhouse John A. Hobson Qin Hui Piero Gobetti Francisco Luís Gomes John Gray Thomas Hill Green Thomas Jefferson Immanuel Kant Namık Kemal John Maynard Keynes Will Kymlicka Auberon Herbert Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse Wilhelm von Humboldt John Locke Salvador de Madariaga James Madison Harriet Martineau Minoo Masani James Mill John Stuart Mill John Milton Ludwig von Mises Donald Barkly Molteno Leo Chiozza Money Charles de Montesquieu José María Luis Mora Chantal Mouffe Dadabhai Naoroji Friedrich Naumann Robert Nozick Bertil Ohlin Thomas Paine Alan Paton Karl Raimund Popper Richard Price Joseph Priestley Guillermo Prieto François Quesnay Ignacio Ramírez Ayn Rand Walther Rathenau John Rawls Joseph Raz David Ricardo Wilhelm Röpke Richard Rorty Carlo Rosselli Murray Rothbard Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Baptiste Say Amartya Sen Li Shenzhi Hu Shih Algernon Sidney Emmanuel Sieyès İbrahim Şinasi Zef Jubani Adam Smith Hernando de Soto Herbert Spencer Anne Louise Germaine de Staël William Graham Sumner R. H. Tawney Johan Rudolf Thorbecke Henry David Thoreau Alexis de Tocqueville Antoine Destutt de Tracy Anne Robert Jacques Turgot Voltaire Lester Frank Ward Max Weber Mary Wollstonecraft Tao Xingzhi Gu Zhun
Organizations Liberal parties Africa Liberal Network (ALN) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDEP) Arab Liberal Federation (ALF) Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) European Democratic Party (EDP) European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America (RELIAL) Liberal South East European Network (LIBSEEN)
Regional variants Europe Latin America Albania Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Chile Colombia Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech lands Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Iran Israel Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Senegal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain South Africa South Korea Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States Uruguay Venezuela Zimbabwe
Related topics Democratic capitalism Democratic education Liberal bias in academia Liberal conservatism Liberal socialism National liberalism Regressive left
Liberalism portal Politics portal

This article gives an overview of liberalism and centrism in Sweden. It is limited to liberal and centrist parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.

Background

Liberalism has been a major force in Sweden since the 19th century. Nowadays The Liberals (Liberalerna, member LI, ALDE) calls itself a centre-right liberal party. The Centre Party (Centerpartiet,member LI, ALDE) is a historically agrarian party that has gradually developed into a liberal party. Since their party congress in 2013, they define themselves as a green, liberal party.^[1]

History

From People's Party to The Liberals

• 1895: The liberal wing of the Old Party of the Gentry (''Gamla Lantmannapartiet) seceded and formed the People's Party (Folkpartiet)
• 1900: The liberals are reorganised into the Liberal Coalition Party/Freeminded National Association (Liberala Samlingspartiet/Frisinnade Landsföreningen)
• 1922: The party fell apart into the Freeminded People's Party/Freeminded National Association (Frisinnade Folkpartiet/Frisinnade Landsföreningen) and the ⇒ Liberal Party of Sweden
• 1934: Both parties re-united into the People's Party (Folkpartiet)
• 1990: The party is renamed People's Party - The Liberals (Folkpartiet Liberalerna)
• 2015: The party shortened its name to The Liberals (Liberalerna).

Liberal Party of Sweden

• 1922: The Liberal Coalition Party fell apart into the ⇒ Freeminded People's Party and the Liberal Party of Sweden (Sveriges Liberala Parti)
• 1934: Both parties re-united into the ⇒ People's Party

Centre Party

• 1958: The agrarian Rural Party - Farmers' League (Landbygdspartiet Bondeförbundet) renamed itself into Centre Party (Centerpartiet) and evolved gradually from an agrarian into a more liberal direction.

Liberal leaders

• Folkpartiet/Liberalerna: Bertil Ohlin - Gunnar Helén - Per Ahlmark - Ola Ullsten - Bengt Westerberg - Maria Leissner - Lars Leijonborg - Jan Björklund
• Centerpartiet: Thorbjörn Fälldin - Maud Olofsson - Annie Lööf

Liberal thinkers

In the Contributions to liberal theory the following Swedish thinkers are included:

• Anders Chydenius (1729–1803)
• Ivan Bratt (1878–1956)
• Bertil Ohlin (1899–1979)

See also

• History of Sweden
• Politics of Sweden
• List of political parties in Sweden

References