THE SNS DEMOCRATIC AUDIT 2000/SNS DEMOKRATIRÅD 2000

Democracy without Parties?

Report from the Democratic Audit of Sweden 2000
Olof Petersson, Gudmund Hernes, Sören Holmberg, Lise Togeby, Lena Wängnerud.

Summary in English

Swedes Find Their Political Parties Wanting

In the view of a majority in Sweden today the political parties are not working satisfactorily. That same majority fails to award the parties a passing grade in relation to taking responsibility for difficult and long-term decisions, to giving their members influence over party policy, to persuading suitable individuals to stand for elected office and to implementing the demands and wishes of the public.

This survey has been carried out by the SNS Democratic Audit and forms part of a report concerning the political parties. This year the Democratic Audit is made up of academics with expertise in the study of power and democracy and specialists in election research. Lisa Togeby is chairman of the Study of Power and Democracy currently being undertaken in Denmark. Gudmund Hernes was one of the leaders of the earlier Norwegian Study of Power and Democracy. Lena Wägnerud is a political scientist at the University of Gothenburg and is researching the role of women in Swedish politics. Sören Holmberg is also a political scientist from Gothenburg and is responsible for the studies of Swedish elections. The chair of the Democratic Audit is the political scientist, Olof Petersson, who previously served on the Swedish Study into Power and Democracy.

The research group draws attention to the declining membership figures for the parties and considers that this trend gives cause for concern. If the trend continues at the same rate, the parties will have lost their entire membership within ten years. "Grass-roots party members" are already becoming a rarity. Parties are becoming identical with politicians. Ultimately the only people to assemble at local party meetings will be the very same individuals who would otherwise come together at meetings of the school board, the neighbourhood council and the county council.

An already considerable lack of confidence between the general public and the political parties is becoming more extensive. Parties are numbered among those institutions in society which enjoy the lowest levels of public confidence. Fewer and fewer Swedes consider themselves to be supporters of a particular party.

The Democratic Audit has carried out an attitude survey, which is presented in the report "Democracy without Parties?" published by SNS Förlag. Parties are failing to make the grade in every area. Today's Swedes consider that the parties are not carrying out their duties properly.

On the issue of how the parties function when to comes to taking responsibility for difficult and long-term decisions, 65 per cent of those interviewed marked them "unsatisfactory" and 21 per cent "good"; the remaining 14 per cent do not indicate a view. Almost two thirds of the population thus consider that the parties are failing at one of their most fundamental tasks.

The vast majority also consider that the parties are failing when it comes to providing their members with greater influence on party policy: 57 per cent responded "unsatisfactory" and 13 per cent "good". On the question how the parties are tackling their job of persuading suitable individuals to stand for elected office, 61 per cent replied "unsatisfactory" and 21 per cent "good". 61 per cent thought that the task of implementing the demands and wishes of the public was managed poorly by the parties while a minority of 24 approved of the actions of the parties in this respect.

The Democratic Audit has also made comparisons with the corresponding data from a survey recently carried out in Denmark. There, too, the general public was critical of the capacity of the parties for taking responsibility for difficult and long-term decisions. However, dissatisfaction was in other respects was notably less widespread than in Sweden. It is primarily with regard to the assessment of the internal operations of the parties that the Danes are less negative.

The diminishing band of party activists is getting older and older. However, no other comprehensive internal changes could be noted among the parties. While the general public is turning its back on the parties, the internal ways of working of the parties continue along the same path as before.

The Democratic Audit considers that the problem can hardly be that the parties have changed character and therefore no longer need members. On the contrary, the parties have failed to change sufficiently and the public sees itself as having less and less need of the parties.

It is the fall in membership numbers that constitutes the definitive problem in the development of the Swedish political parties. This is particularly apparent when one considers the younger generations, where the level of activity is low and among whom there are many individuals who have experimented with party membership only to abandon it subsequently. Everything would indicate that the decline in membership has not yet come to a halt.

The members of the Audit sound a warning note in relation to the decline of the parties. There are social tasks that only political parties can manage. The unique role of the parties is to weigh contrary demands and find the right compromise. How much should the theatres receive in state subsidy while hospital patients are having to queue? How high should taxes be to improve welfare when companies have to compete with low-cost countries?

Making such impossible choices is the primary responsibility of the parties. A successful party is capable of creating appoprriate contexts. Out of a tangle of different proposals and particular points of view, the party creates an ideology and a plan of action which provides an overarching purpose, a vision of a different society.

A society without parties would lead to increased power for rich special interests, technocracy and charismatic leader-figures. The kind of society envisaged would be based on a combination of elitism and populism. Small elite groups and authoritarian leaders would be able to stir up prejudice through the use of modern media and effective propaganda techniques.

Representative democracy is based on the principle that the public is able when casting its vote to call those in power to account. General elections are intended to provide the opportunity to consider the achievements of the sitting government and pass judgement; they also make it possible for the public to give a mandate for the upcoming term of office. Without political parties this calling of politicians to account would be made more difficult. The power of voters would be diminished in consequence.

The verdict with which the Democratic Audit concludes its report is that without political parties, democracy would sooner or later abolish itself.

Demokrati utan partier? Demokratirådets rapport 2000.
Olof Petersson, Gudmund Hernes, Sören Holmberg, Lise Togeby, Lena Wängnerud.
SNS Förlag, Stockholm 2000.

The Democratic Audit of Sweden is organized by SNS, the Swedish Center for Business and Policy Studies, a Stockholm-based research organization. The task set itself by successive Democratic Audit Groups has been to contribute to a constructive, objective debate on the workings of Swedish democracy by highlighting different aspects of the Swedish political system. The group is variously composed each year, but it is always made up of four to five independent social scientists.