It should be made clearer who actually governs municipalities according to the SNS Democracy Council 2022. In the report “Local Democracy at a Crossroads”, the Council proposes a series of reforms to promote accountability and the rule of law in Swedish municipalities.

Read more and download a summary of the SNS Democracy Council Report 2022: Local Democracy at a Crossroads.


SNS Democracy Council Report 2021: Polarization in Sweden

The Swedish party system has always been heavily polarized, and the existing ideological polarization based on a left–right dimension is more characterized by stability than by change. This is shown by four researchers in Democracy Council Report 2021: Polarization in Sweden

It is often said in the public debate that we are experiencing a particularly polarized era. Unlike many other observers, however, the authors of this report show that Swedish society is not remarkably ideologically polarized, at least not from a historical perspective.

Headed by political science professor Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson, the researchers in the SNS Democracy Council 2021 have studied the extent of ideological polarization in Sweden. Based on some thirty indicators, the authors analyze the level of ideological polarization over time and in comparison with other countries. The study focuses on political polarization among the most important stakeholders in a democracy: citizens, parties, elected representatives, and the media.

The report was published on March 26, 2021.

Authors

Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson (chair), Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, henrik.oscarsson@pol.gu.se, +46 70 889 99 43

Torbjörn Bergman, Professor of Political Science at Umeå University, torbjorn.bergman@umu.se, +46 70 575 73 00

Annika Bergström, Professor of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Gothenburg, annika.bergstrom@jmg.gu.se, +46 70 923 37 61

Johan Hellström, Associate Professor of Political Science at Umeå University, johan.hellstrom@umu.se, +46 70 636 96 99

Contact

Stefan Sandström, stefan.sandstrom@sns.se, +46(0)8 507 025 64


sns democracy report 2017

In 2017 SNS published SNS Democracy Report 2017. Cooperation and Conflict in a Parliamentary Democracy Research.