Can we please try to put an end to lazy labeling of political parties as left, right, centre but particularly in the case of this article the use of “populist, Right-wing, nationalist” to describe the Sweden Democrats. It is far more nuanced and complicated than these labels suggest. Note that centre-Left is used for Social Democrats but Right-wing for Sweden Democrats. Small “c” and large “R”. Used subconsciously to convey the former is respectable, the latter not so?
Well put. In some instances people use the words ‘populist’ and ‘alt right’ to describe anything that is not far left. Populist is an exhaustingly overworked word.
Galeti Tavas
2 years ago
A few details on where each group stands on migration would make me think I understood where each party was on the L—R scale.
On a scale of 1-10 where 1 is pro-immigration :
Sweden democrats : 9
Christian democrats : 7
Moderates (conservatives): 6
Liberal : 5
Social democrats (PM party) :5
Left party (former communists) : 2
Center : 1
Greens : 1
The greens were in coalition with the Social democrats and depended on support from Center and Liberals. Center and Greens skewed migration policies to the left but Center insisted on market rents which caused the Left party to initiate the vote of no confidence which was then proposed by the Sweden democrats who were opposed to market rents but wanted to topple the govt nonetheless. The Sweden democrats are not traditional right wing in all policy except for immigration, they share some values with the ruling social democrats who have lost a lot of votes to SD just through immigration. It’s a circus!
And just to add to the confusion, the Center party have in the last half hour withdrawn their insistence on market rents, a bit late to avoid the government resigning, but now they want the Social democrats to accept a proposal for lower rates of income tax which is a polar opposite to the socialists’ political strategy on taxation. The ringmaster in this circus is Annie Lööf, the leader of the Center party. She has single handedly thrown Swedish politics into total disorder since the last election utilising the party’s power broker position between the left and right blocks.
Stephen Follows
2 years ago
Well done to the author for nearly having a pair of anagrams for names.
Can we please try to put an end to lazy labeling of political parties as left, right, centre but particularly in the case of this article the use of “populist, Right-wing, nationalist” to describe the Sweden Democrats. It is far more nuanced and complicated than these labels suggest. Note that centre-Left is used for Social Democrats but Right-wing for Sweden Democrats. Small “c” and large “R”. Used subconsciously to convey the former is respectable, the latter not so?
Well put. In some instances people use the words ‘populist’ and ‘alt right’ to describe anything that is not far left. Populist is an exhaustingly overworked word.
A few details on where each group stands on migration would make me think I understood where each party was on the L—R scale.
On a scale of 1-10 where 1 is pro-immigration :
Sweden democrats : 9
Christian democrats : 7
Moderates (conservatives): 6
Liberal : 5
Social democrats (PM party) :5
Left party (former communists) : 2
Center : 1
Greens : 1
The greens were in coalition with the Social democrats and depended on support from Center and Liberals. Center and Greens skewed migration policies to the left but Center insisted on market rents which caused the Left party to initiate the vote of no confidence which was then proposed by the Sweden democrats who were opposed to market rents but wanted to topple the govt nonetheless. The Sweden democrats are not traditional right wing in all policy except for immigration, they share some values with the ruling social democrats who have lost a lot of votes to SD just through immigration. It’s a circus!
thankyou
And just to add to the confusion, the Center party have in the last half hour withdrawn their insistence on market rents, a bit late to avoid the government resigning, but now they want the Social democrats to accept a proposal for lower rates of income tax which is a polar opposite to the socialists’ political strategy on taxation. The ringmaster in this circus is Annie Lööf, the leader of the Center party. She has single handedly thrown Swedish politics into total disorder since the last election utilising the party’s power broker position between the left and right blocks.
Well done to the author for nearly having a pair of anagrams for names.