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The Enduring Scandinavian Party System
Author(s) -
Sundberg Jan
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
scandinavian political studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9477
pISSN - 0080-6757
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9477.00014
Subject(s) - cleavage (geology) , voting , political science , electoral system , context (archaeology) , political economy , single non transferable vote , law , sociology , politics , history , democracy , archaeology , geotechnical engineering , fracture (geology) , engineering
The frozen party hypothesis has been rejected in several contemporary studies. However, by conceptualizing the Scandinavian parties in three categories, and by focusing the study on the three pole parties originally emphasized by Stein Rokkan, the bulk of the Scandinavian party system is still frozen. Diminishing class voting and electoral instability are inefficient measures of how well cleavages structures are reflected in the party system. Cleavages must be understood in a broader context where the struggle between the three fronts to incorporate new categories of voters is the very essence of an enduring cleavage structure.