The Madisonian Turn
Political Parties and Parliamentary Democracy in Nordic Europe
Kaare Strom author Torbjörn Bergman author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:The University of Michigan Press
Published:30th Jun '11
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Parliamentary democracy is the most common regime type in the contemporary political world, but the quality of governance depends on effective parliamentary oversight and strong political parties. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have traditionally been strongholds of parliamentary democracy. In recent years, however, critics have suggested that new challenges such as weakened popular attachment, the advent of cartel parties, the judicialisation of politics, and European integration have threatened the institutions of parliamentary democracy in the Nordic region.
This volume examines these claims and their implications. The authors find that the Nordic states have moved away from their previous resemblance to a Westminster model toward a form of parliamentary democracy with more separation-of-powers features—a Madisonian model. These features are evident both in vertical power relations (e.g., relations with the European Union) and horizontal ones (e.g., increasingly independent courts and central banks). Yet these developments are far from uniform and demonstrate that there may be different responses to the political challenges faced by contemporary Western democracies.
ISBN: 9780472117475
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 738g
472 pages