Swedish politics take after American

Prime Minister Reinfeldt acts more and more like an American president, not necessarily a good thing, say experts. 

  • Prime Minister Reinfeldt more and more like an American president? It is not necessarily a good sign, according to American Professor Steven Schier.
  • Swedish politics take after American
    Swedish party leaders are beginning to look more and more like American presidents. Actually a little too much so, according to an American professor in political science, Steven Schier.
    In the past it used to be that Swedish politicians were team players, but they have changed and are now applying more and more of the American system where they market themselves as individuals.

  • Reinfeldt is traveling around in a huge bus with a picture of himself on it...
  • ”Reinfeldt is traveling around in a huge bus with a picture of himself on it!” Schier says. Fredrik Reinfeldt has been more popular than his party for a while now. Even though the Social Democrats are bigger than the Moderates in all opinion polls, Prime Minister Reinfeldt has won over Stefan Löfven in individual popularity polls. And to lift out the individual is a very conscious strategy, according to Schier, who teaches at Carleton College in the U.S. but who at present is a Fulbright Professor at Uppsala University.
    ”You make the party leader popular and you lift the entire party through the party leader’s popularity,” explains Schier. But he sees problems with this strategy.
    ”Politics,” he says, ”it a team sport. By choosing individuals instead of parties, we risk losing control over the government we select.”