{"id":5626,"date":"2021-06-23T15:25:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T14:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.electoral-reform.org.uk\/?p=5626"},"modified":"2022-04-13T14:49:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T13:49:11","slug":"the-two-bloc-system-scandinavias-best-kept-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/the-two-bloc-system-scandinavias-best-kept-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"The Two-Bloc System: Scandinavia\u2019s Best Kept Secret?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This week, people across Scandinavia celebrate the festival of midsummer (hopefully not in the same way as in the recent film of the same name<\/a>). Though festivals around the summer solstice occur in many countries, it is a particularly important part of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish culture. As an electoral parallel, we thought we\u2019d look at a unique aspect of Sweden, Norway and Denmark\u2019s political cultures \u2013 the two-bloc system \u2013 and ask whether it really is able to combine the direct accountability of a two-party system with the pluralism of a multi-party system.<\/p>\n

The origins of the bloc system stem from the long-time dominance of the social democrats in Scandinavian politics. From the 1920s until the 1990s, such parties were consistently the largest in all three parliaments and were typically capable of governing by themselves. For the political right to deprive them of power, all the centre-right parties had to govern together \u2013 though such governments often broke down due to differences between the parties. But declining levels of support for the social democrats in the last few decades has meant they have had to form coalitions or seek formal support agreements with other left-of-centre parties to govern effectively. At the same time, the Scandinavian centre-right parties have become much better at inter-party cooperation.<\/p>\n

Today, Scandinavian parties are divided between a centre-left \u2018red\u2019 bloc \u2013 typically containing social democrats, socialists and greens \u2013 and a centre-right \u2018blue\u2019 bloc \u2013 containing various flavours of liberalism and conservatism.<\/p>\n

Scandinavian Blocs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nRed Bloc<\/th>\nBlue Bloc<\/th>\nNon-Bloc<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Denmark<\/td>\nSocial Democrats
\nRadical Liberals
\nSocialist People\u2019s Party
\nRed-Green Alliance<\/td>\n		Venstre (Liberals)
\nDanish People\u2019s Party
\nConservative People\u2019s Party
\nLiberal Alliance<\/td>\n		The Alternative
\nThe New Right<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Norway<\/td>\nLabour Party
\nCentre Party
\nSocialist Left Party
\nRed Party<\/td>\n		Conservative Party
\nProgress Party
\nLiberal Party
\nChristian Democratic Party<\/td>\n		Green Party<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sweden<\/p>\n

(-2018)<\/td>\n

Social Democratic Party
\nLeft Party
\nGreen Party<\/td>\n		Moderate Party
\nCentre Party
\nChristian Democrats
\nLiberals<\/td>\n		Sweden Democrats<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

While blocs have occasionally been formalised, such as with the \u2018Alliance for Sweden\u2019 between 2004 and 2019, the bloc system ultimately exists in the realm of semi-official, unwritten rules. The parties are all fully independent and, though often producing joint manifestos in addition to their own, do disagree on certain issues. Nonetheless, the blocs effectively form two alternative governments, with the bloc system being strong enough that minority governments are the most common governing arrangement in all three Scandinavian countries \u2013 typically one or two parties form the cabinet, with the rest of the bloc supporting from outside as part of a more flexible agreement.<\/p>\n

Other bloc systems do exist, but what differentiates the Scandinavian systems is their semi-permanence. Whereas blocs in other countries tend to be fairly fluid and rarely last more than a few electoral cycles, Scandinavian parties crossing from one bloc to another is a rarity, often with decades between changes. The most recent shift being the Swedish Centre and Liberal parties supporting a Social Democrat-led government after voting against a blue bloc government reliant on support from the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats. Whether this will lead to permanent change is yet to be seen.<\/p>\n

The main advantage of the two-bloc system is how it transparentises and democratises government formation. Essentially, voters have the possible governments on the ballot paper. They know that if the majority of voters vote for red bloc parties there will be a left-of-centre government and if the majority of voters vote for blue bloc parties there will be a right-of-centre government. The parties have effectively pre-negotiated their coalition before the election. This not only allows for governments to be formed within days of an election, but also increases the accountability of the governments. If voters reject a red bloc government, they know that a blue bloc government will be formed without any of the component parts of the previous governments \u2013 they are able to \u2018throw the rascals out\u2019.<\/p>\n

Under a first past the post, two-party system, many of the different parties that exist under a two-bloc system would be squashed as factions into two big parties. Which of these factions has control of the party is then decided internally, often with unrepresentative party members having significant sway. This can create situations where a wing unpopular with the public is in charge of the party. But because of the logic of two-party systems, voters don\u2019t really have anywhere to go and so are forced to choose between two options they don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

A two-bloc system, however, hands this control to the voters \u2013 who can decide for themselves the relative strengths of each party within each bloc. If, for instance, blue bloc voters felt that the bloc was too socially conservative, they could switch to supporting a liberal party and increase its influence within the bloc. Ultimately, the two-bloc system is effectively a transparent, pluralistic and more responsive two-party system.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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