'Big Bang' Elections and Party System Change in Scandinavia: Farewell to the 'Enduring Party System'?

Abstract

This article analyses the performance of the political parties in each of the 103 general elections staged in the five Nordic states between 1944 and 2011. It follows the work of Jan Sundberg by initially focusing on the three ‘pole parties’ that emerged from the struggle between labour and capital (Social Democrats versus Conservatives) on the one hand and between rural and urban economies (Agrarians versus Conservatives) on the other and considers the continuing validity of his conclusion that there has been ‘a remarkable stability among the three pole parties’. This leads Sundberg to characterise Scandinavia as ‘an enduring party system’. Whilst the evidence continues to point to significant ‘core persistence’, there have been a number of ‘big bang’ elections and a striking rise in support for parties in the ‘Others’ category (presently over two-fifths of the active electorate in Norway and Finland and over three-fifths in Iceland). The central question therefore is: What does the significant growth in this category indicate about the nature of electoral party system change in Scandinavia? The argument advanced is that significant core persistence (based on the pole-party vote share) should not conceal significant support for new parties, support which has vested the party systems on mainland Scandinavia with increased polarisation and an added dimensionality.