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Parliamentary Opposition on the Wane? The Case of Sweden, 1970–2014

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2016

Karl Loxbo Open the ORCID record for Karl Loxbo [Opens in a new window]  and
Mats Sjölin
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Abstract

While it is commonly assumed that parliamentary opposition is on the wane in Western democracies, we argue that evidence supporting this established proposition is lacking. Therefore, drawing on unique data from the Swedish parliament (the Riksdag), between 1970 and 2014, this article breaks new ground by systematically testing the ‘waning-of-opposition thesis’. First, we explore patterns of cross-partisan cooperation by gauging the extent to which governments seek to accommodate the position of the opposition. Second, we study the degree of partisan conflict over time by mapping the degree to which the opposition politicizes and rejects government policies. Our findings directly contradict the waning-of-opposition thesis. In contrast to theoretical expectations, including the influential ‘cartel-party thesis’, the article finds that partisan struggles in general have intensified significantly over time. Therefore, the article casts significant doubt over the influential idea that parliamentary opposition is waning.

Keywords

oppositionparliamentary oppositionwaning-of-oppositioncartel partySweden
Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , October 2017 , pp. 587 - 613
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

*

Karl Loxbo (corresponding author) is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Linnaeus University, Sweden. Contact email: [email protected].

Mats Sjölin is Professor of Political Science at Linnaeus University, Sweden. Contact email: mats.sjö[email protected].

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