The Madisonian turn
Subtitle: political parties and parliamentary democracy in Nordic Europe
By: edited by Torbörn Bergman and Kaare Strom
Series: New comparative politics
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 428
ISBN-13: 9780472117475; 9780472025503
Subjects: Politics and government; Comparative government; Legislative bodies; Political parties; Cabinet system
Description: 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 judicialization 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.

Torbjörn Bergman is Professor of Political Science at Umes University, Sweden.

Kaare Strom is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. --Book Jacket.
Notes: Includes index.