The professionalisation of politics reconsidered. A study of the Swedish Cabinet 1917-2004

Parliamentary Affairs

Volumn 60, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 66-83

  Beckman, Ludvig ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33846341168     PISSN: 00312290     EISSN: 14602482     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsl046     Document Type: Review

References (42)

1. P. Norris, 'Introduction: Theories of Recruitment', in P. Norris (ed.), Passages to Power. Legislative Recruitment in Advanced Societies, Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 5.
2. H. Best and M. Cotta, 'Between Professionalization and Democratization: a Synoptic View in the Making of the European Representative', in H. Best and M. Cotta (eds), Parliamentary Representatives in Europe 1948-2000. Legislative Recruitment and Careers in Eleven European Countries. Oxford University Press, 2000;
3. J. Borchert and J. Zeiss (eds), The Political Class in Advanced Democracies, Oxford University Press, 2003;
4. P. Esaiasson and S. Holmberg, Representation from Above, Dartmouth, Aldershot, 1995.
5. P. Pennings, 'The Consequences of Ministerial Recruitment for Policy-making in Western Europe', Acta Politica, 35, 2000, pp. 86-103.
6. A. King, 'The Rise of the Career Politician in Britain-and its Consequences', British Journal of Political Science, 11, 1981, p. 259.
7. M. Hagevi, 'Sweden: between Participation Ideals and Professionalism', in Borchert and Zeiss, op. cit.; N. Aylott, 'President Persson-How Did Sweden Get Him?', in T. Poguntke and P. Webb (eds), The Presidentialization of Politics, Oxford University Press, 2005.
8. J. Blondel, Government Ministers in the Contemporary World, Sage, 1985, p. 200.
9. Best and Cotta, op. cit.
10. M. Hagevi, 'Sweden: Between Participation Ideals and Professionalism', in Borchert and Zeiss (eds), op. cit.
11. King, op cit., p. 285. Norris, op cit.
12. P. Esaiasson and S. Holmberg, op. cit., p. 126.
13. M. Weber, 'Politics as Vocation', Political Writings, Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 319.
14. Typically, a profession is also believed to have recourse to some specific higher education. For a discussion of potential 'functional equivalents' with regard to the professional politician, see: J. Borchert, 'Imaging Politicians: The Theory of Democracy meets the Sociology of Professions', Paper presented at the American Political Science Association, 2004.
15. T. Brante, 'Professional Types as a Strategy of Analysis', in M. Burrage and R. Torstendahl (eds), Professions in Theory and History, Sage, 1990.
16. Borchert, op cit.
17. P. Riddell, 'The Impact of the Rise of the Career Politician', The Journal of Legislative Studies, 1, 1995, p. 188;
18. Norris, op. cit. M. P. Jones et al., 'Amateur Legislators-Professional Politicians: The Consequences of Party-Centered Electoral Rules in a Federal System', American Journal of Political Science, 46, 2002, p. 658.
19. B. Headey, 'The Role Skills of Cabinet Ministers: A Cross-national Review', Political Studies 22, 1974, p. 69;
20. R. Rose, 'The Making of Cabinet Ministers', British Journal of Political Science, 1, 1971, p. 403.
21. Of course, members of parliaments were originally not salaried and hence not 'professionals' in any meaningful sense of the word. In Sweden, salaries were introduced for Members of the Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen) with the abolishment of the four estates and the introduction of bi-cameral representative bodies in 1866. Yet, being a member of the parliament remains, formally, a commission of trust, and not an employment. This is reflected by the fact that the parliament does not have the legal standing of an employer in relation to its salaried representatives.
22. For a different conceptualisation of political professionalism, stressing the 'psychological commitments' and value orientations characteristic of the career politician, see for example: King, op. cit.; O. Petersson, 'Finns politisk professionalism?', in C. Stolpe and K. Ståhlberg (ed.), Professioner, politik och förvaltning, Åbo Akademi, 1992.
23. Blondel, op. cit.
24. J. Borchert, 'Professional Politicians: Towards a Comparative Perspective', in J. Borchert and Zeiss (eds), op. cit.
25. Headey, op. cit.
26. Rose, op. cit. In a previous study, I examined the extent to which political experience from specific policy fields corresponds to patterns of recruitment to particular Cabinet positions in Sweden. See: L. Beckman, 'The Competent Cabinet? Ministers in Sweden and the Problem of Competence and Democracy', Scandinavian Political Studies, 29, 2006, pp. 111-29.
27. Jones et al., op. cit.
28. For example, in Esaiasson and Holmberg, op. cit.
29. This example is not strictly hypothetical but is modelled on the career of government minister Mona Sahlin (in government 1990-91, 1994-95, and 1998-), who used the expression 'time-out' when temporarily leaving the government in 1995 and started a small business named 'Mona Sahlin AB'.
30. E. Damgaard, 'Termination of Danish Government Coalitions: Theoretical and Empirical Aspects', Scandinavian Political Studies 17, 1994, p. 194.
31. The sample includes all appointments to the Swedish Cabinet 1917-2004 and includes 663 separate appointments from 31 Cabinets including a total of 306 individuals. Since the unit of analysis in this study is ministerial appointments (n = 663) the numbers and relative frequencies reported should not be understood as referring to individual ministers.
32. In calculating leading positions in political parties, the following indicators were used: party leader, member of national board, chairman or member of the national executive committee, employed representative (ombudsman), leader of party district, leader or member of party district executive committee, leader of or other leading position in youth organisation, leading position in women's section of the party.
33. These figures exclude all non-political ministerial appointments (n = 40) that served mostly in the caretaker governments of 1920 and 1921.
34. U. Larsson, 'Människorna i kanslihuset', in Att styra riket: regeringskansliet 1840-1990. Departementshistoriekommitte n, Allmänna förlaget, 1990; L. Linnarsson, 'Statsrådet i Sverige 1809-1934', in G. Brusewitz (ed.), De nordiska ländernas statsråd, Almqvist and Wiksell, 1935.
35. O. Ruin, 'Torbjörn Fälldin som statsminister', in N. G. Åsling (ed.), Maktskifte, Ekerlids, 2004; Aylott, op. cit.
36. U. Jun, 'Great Britain: From the Prevalence of the Amateur to the Dominance of the Professional Politician', in Borchert and Zeiss (eds), op. cit.
37. Four indicators were used in coding for this variable: member of municipal council, chairman of municipal executive board, member of county council and chairman of county executive board.
38. J.-L. Thiébault, 'The Social Background of Western European Ministers', in J. Blondel and J-L. Thiébault (eds), The Profession of Government Minister in Western Europe, Macmillan, 1991. Note that Thiébault's figures refers to the proportion of individuals with a certain background whereas the figure presented here uses appointments as the unit of analysis.
39. These figures do not include non-political ministerial appointments (n = 40) that served mostly in the caretaker governments of 1920 and 1921. The difference in local/regional political experience between socialist and non-socialist Cabinet appointments is even more accentuated when only those with two or more previous local/regional positions are included. It turns out that twice as many non-socialist Cabinet appointments (19% compared with 10% for socialists) had at least two previous local or regional political offices.
40. This figure includes all ministerial appointments of an individual with at least one previous appointment (that is, a total of two or more appointments). Counting only appointments of ministers with at least two previous appointments (that is, a total of three or more appointments), the figure falls to 30%. However, no other significant changes occur.
41. S. Carlsson and R. Rosén, Sveriges historia II, Bonniers, 1962, p. 652.
42. Richard Sandler quoted in Y. Möller, Per-Edvin Sköld. Humanist och samhällsbyggare, Tiden, 1990, p. 117.