Kristdemokraterna: Bäst när det gäller - men hur länge?
Christian Democrats – Best When it Counts, But for How Long? The Christian Democrats succeeded to keep up their parliamentary position after the 2014 national parliamentary election despite a string of disappointing opinion polls. The party has changed its leader since the election. The former leader Goran Hagglund was popular among the Christian Democratic voters but he did not manage to prevent the loss of voters since the successful 1998 election. The party has been shaken by several ideological conflicts. Hagglund was challenged from the inside during the last parliamentary term but won the leadership election and was reelected at the party’s Riksting in 2012. The Swedish Christian Democrats have developed from a small Christian protest party with an unclear position regarding Left and Right to a (still) small Conservative party and coalition partner in three Liberal-Conservative governments since 1991. The party stands on a shaky voting foundation, and has to appeal to a broader and more mainstream non-socialist group of voters in order to be able to cross the four percent parliamentary threshold. The parliamentary group has been active on a broad range of issues with a social conservative profile. In office the Christian Democrats have been active mostly on matters regarding welfare and health care since they have mainly been managing the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. Christian Democratic values – as they are interpreted in a European framework – are not widely distributed among voters and are only superficially established in Sweden. The party’s future depends on whether it manages to keep the older groups of adherents – mainly churchgoers – and at the same time attract newer groups with more mainstream traditional Conservative values.
Système symbolique catholique et comportements électoraux
Avec constance, les sciences sociales etablissent depuis un siecle le lien etroit qui unit catholicisme et vote de droite en France. Malgre les profondes transformations qui ont affecte champ religieux et champ politique, cette relation se verifie de nouveau lors de l'election presidentielle de 2012. Croissant avec la frequence de l'assistance a l'office, la propension des catholiques a voter a droite se revele independante de leurs autres caracteristiques sociodemographiques. Par ailleurs, liberalisme economique et ethno-autoritarisme, qui s'accompagnent d'attitudes et de comportements politiques conservateurs, vont egalement de pair avec une augmentation du degre d'integration au catholicisme. Cependant, meme une fois controlee la position sur ces deux echelles d'attitudes, l'effet de la pratique catholique sur le vote de droite demeure.
Rhetoric in British Politics and Society
The art of rhetoric is central to the practice of politics. It also, however, plays an important role in civic and private life, where it is employed to persuade, negotiate and resolve disputes on a daily basis. Using the Aristotelian categories of ethos (appeals based on the character of the speaker), pathos (appeals to the emotions of an audience) and logos (appeals to reason), the contributors to this collection explore topics ranging from Prime Minister's Questions and Welsh devolution to political satire and the rhetoric of cultural racism. This collection provides a highly accessible and engaging discussion of a variety of issues, while casting new light on the place and function of rhetoric in contemporary Britain. As such, it will appeal to a wide audience, including scholars and students of rhetoric, political communication, British politics, cultural studies and sociology.