Politics as organized combat – new players and new rules of the game in Sweden

New Political Economy. Published online.

Abstract

In this paper, Sweden is used as an example of how organized politics has changed quite dramatically in the last couple of decades. The paper argues that there are a number of points that has recently changed Swedish organized politics in rather fundamental ways. These changes entail a new actor constellation in Swedish politics and policy making, decreased visibility of political processes, and the emergence of a strong feedback loop between inequality, participation and public policies. What this amounts to is a very different form of elite-driven policy-making than the old corporatist structures. An amorphous and quite invisible but still highly elite-driven process has emerged, in which inequality has increased dramatically, and the impact of money on politics has become stronger even in Sweden.