Political Parties in Multi-Level Polities: The Nordic Countries Compared

Political parties are essential for the functioning of parliamentary democracy but how have parties adapted to the challenges created by the growth of a new layer of political decision-making at the supranational level, i.e. the EU? This comparative survey focuses on parties in four Nordic countries, including Norway, which remains outside the EU.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables List of Figures Preface Notes on the Authors Parties and the Challenge of Multi-Level Politics Principals, Agents, Parties and the EU Denmark: Party Agents on Tight Leashes Finland: From Permissive Consensus to Angry Birds? Norway: Strong Yet Marginalised Parties Sweden: Power to the Parliamentarians? Conclusions: Nordic Political Parties, European Union and the Challenge References

About the Author :
NICHOLAS AYLOTT is Senior Lecturer in political science at Södertörn University, Sweden. His research interest is in comparative European politics and, especially, political parties. Among his publications in this field is a co-edited book, The Europeanization of National Political Parties: Power and Organizational Adaptation (2007).
MAGNUS BLOMGREN is Lecturer in Political Science at Umeå University, Sweden. His research interests relate to various aspects of democracy - European integration, parliamentarism and political parties. He has recently co-edited a book on Parliamentary Roles in Modern Legislatures (2012).
Torbjörn Bergman is Professor of Political Science at Umeå University, Sweden. Recent publications include co-edited books on Cabinets and Coalition Bargaining: The Democratic Life Cycle in Western Europe (2008) and The Madisonian Turn: Political Parties and Parliamentary Democracy in Nordic Europe (2011).


Review :
Comparing how intra-party delegation and accountability mechanisms work in the Nordic countries, Aylott, Blomgren and Bergman provide plenty of evidence about both change and continuity inside political parties. Based on extensive empirical material and sophisticated argumentation, this book is essential reading to students of political parties, Europeanisation and the state of representative democracy in today's multi-level European polity. Tapio Raunio, School of Management, University of Tampere, Finland "Political Parties in Multi-Level Polities' fills an important gap in the literature by investigating the effect of European integration on the mechanisms of democratic accountability within political parties. The contribution to the literature is both theoretical and empirical: it presents a clear and original principal-agent framework focusing on delegation within party organizations, and it presents systematic and rich case studies studying how intra-party delegation occurs in the Nordic political parties. The book is essential reading for party researchers as well as for scholars of European integration and should have important implications for future research in the field. Hanna Back, Department of Political Science, Lund University This timely book provides a valuable theoretical and empirical examination of intra-party organization and democracy, across the national and European level of government, within the Nordic region. It will be welcomed by those particularly concerned with Nordic politics, but also be of interest to students of party organizations and European integration in general. Elin Haugsgjerd Allern, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo