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Sailing Along New Cleavages: Understanding the Electoral Success of the Swedish Pirate Party in the European Parliament Election 20091

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2013

Marie Demker
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Abstract

In the Swedish European Parliamentary Election in 2009 the Swedish Pirate Party took two seats in the parliament and 7.1 per cent of the Swedish voters’ support. The party was absolutely new and the usual concept of populist parties does not seem to fit the Pirate movement very well. It is anti-authoritarian and aims to enhance civic liberties for youngsters, to give open access to culture through the internet and to improve personal integrity and human dignity on the World Wide Web. Transnationalism is one foundation for the party but another is a value foundation of universal human rights and individual freedom, disregarding national borders. This article is an investigation of the Pirate Party as a possible new party family, driven by new sociopolitical cleavages in the modern information society.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 188 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 2013 

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Footnotes

*

Marie Demker is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. Contact email: [email protected].

1

A Swedish version of this paper was published in Oscarsson and Holmberg (2011).

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