What happens when a new government enters office? A comparison of ideological change in British and Swedish foreign policy 1991–2011

Abstract

This study analyses to what extent a change of government in times of unchanged international structure affects the ideology of foreign policy. The main contribution is to investigate the role of political culture, as reflected through institutional design, as an intervening variable. Effects of changes of government in the United Kingdom in 1997 and 2010 and in Sweden in 1994 and 2006 is studied by analysing speeches in the General Debates of the UN General Assembly. The analysis is based on four ideal types. The results indicate that institutional design is an influencing intervening variable of foreign policy ideology. In the UK, a country dominated by majoritarian institutional design, foreign policy ideology changes more extensively in times of government change than in Sweden, a country dominated by consensual institutional design.

The Dynamics of Lithuanian-Polish Strategic Partnership

“…30 Nevertheless, a study conducted by Douglas Brommesson and Ann-Marie Ekengren in 2013, illustrated how the change of ruling parties (or coalitions) in Sweden and the United Kingdom resulted in changes in foreign policy priorities and this change was not ascribed to any national or international security and stability factors. 31 Juliet Kaarbo (in 1996Kaarbo (in , 2012 was one of the first to analyze coalition governments and their impact on foreign policy changes. She noted that junior parties within coalitions are able to change the country's foreign policy when they are unanimous and self-determined to attain this.…”

When, How and Why Are Junior Coalition Parties Able to Affect a Government's Foreign Policy? A Study of Swedish Coalition Governments 2006–2014

“…This potential conflict between unity and ideological profiling is brought to the fore in coalition governments where junior coalition parties are torn between the demands of national and coalition unity (Oppermann & Brummer ; McEnhill ), and the rare opportunity to profile themselves in issues with few budgetary consequences. Instead, foreign policy is a matter of rhetoric where the spoken word reflects a party's underlying ideological beliefs (Brommesson & Ekengren ). We study junior coalition parties in a consensus context in order to explain when, how and why a junior coalition party is able to affect a government's foreign policy.…”

Sveriges politiska partieroch Israel-Palestinafrågan: En analys av svenska partiers agerande 2006–2021

“…På den parlamentariska arenan finns ett stort intresse för utrikespolitiska frågor, och ett flertal analyser av utrikespolitiska debatter i riksdagen har gjorts (se t.ex. Bjereld, 1992;Bjereld & Demker, 1995;Brommesson & Ekengren, 2013;Edström, 2017;Elgström, 1982;Tingsten, 1964). Stort fokus har lagts på den svenska neutralitetsprincipen, samt politisk samverkan i utrikespolitiska frågor (Brommesson, 2007;Möller, 2019;Westberg, 2003).…”

“…Tjänstemän från utrikesdepartementet i Jerusalem utryckte möjligheten att samarbeta med Sverige, som ett alternativ till både USA och Sovjetunionen (Bialer, 1990;Schatz, 2017, s. 85). I relation till neutralitetspolitiken har Sverige också haft en traditionellt välförankrad konsensus över partigränserna (Björklund, 1992;Brommesson & Ekengren, 2013). Konsensus har främst förordats av två anledningar.…”

“…Detta kan verka ovanligt med tanke på att konsensus mellan partierna har ansetts eftersträvansvärt inom svensk utrikespolitik (Bjereld, 2010, s. 99;2017b, s. 65). Svensk utrikespolitik är historiskt känt för att vara ett konsensusarbete där de politiska partierna sällan politiserar den svenska positionen för att undvika att underminera den sittande regeringens utrikespolitik (Björklund, 1992;Brommesson & Ekengren, 2013). Vid första anblicken ser även Israel-Palestinafrågan ut att hamna i kategorin av politisk konsensus då samtliga partier uttrycker att tvåstatslösningen är den enda rätta vägen för hållbar fred i konflikten mellan Israel och Palestina.…”