Political Science

Sweden is a nation that has a distinctive political structure with twenty-one counties. Dating back as a nation, Sweden conjured the images of mainly the settlers and raiders but today it stands out as one of the most advanced nations globally. This nature is revealed in her through gender equality, politics, living standards, social welfare, arts, technology and the role she plays in both global and regional expansions. These will be considered in this paper in addition to the political parties and other features. The document will equally focus on the contrast relayed by Denmark and Norway with respect to the existing institutions, their parties and their striking features.

Sweden has a distinctive Western European style of historical democratic leadership and this has a great hand in the contemporary democratic regime exercised today.  The present day Swedish Government has clung on to Parliamentarism. The politics of Sweden occurs in a structure composed of a parliamentary representative type of democratic constitutional dominion. The countrys Executive power location is solely engrossed in the government, which is under a Prime Ministers leadership and a cabinet composed of twenty ministers. The members of parliament carry out the prime ministers election and the elections done are multi-party structured (SWEDEN.SE, n.d).

The Swedish Judiciary system is independent of the government but the prime minister together with the cabinet carry out the appointments. The prime minister has the mandate to appoint this cabinet. Its legal system which is partly influenced by the customary law mainly entails the civil law. Moreover, the Legislative power vested is in both the parliament and the government. It important to note that, the Swedish monarch has officially been maintained as the head of state, which is a special ceremonial position that has no command over the countrys armed forces. This ceremonial post holder is also not allowed to preside over the cabinet assemblies. Concerning the succession of the throne, both male and female succession is permitted.

 Legislative power is vested in a type of unicameral parliament under the government. This parliament has three hundred and forty nine seats as at now. Its members are elected on a four-year term basis that is also done proportionally as per the universal suffrage. A break down of the current political parties consists of the Social Democrats, the Liberal Party members, Greens, the Moderates, the Christian Democrats, the members of the Center Party and those of the Left Party (SWEDEN.SE, n.d).

The Social Democratic Party has its roots tied to trade-union movements and has always made the reduction of unemployment its priority. Goran Persson is the leader of this party, which stands for the strong public sector that houses the Blue-collar public-sector workers who form base. The Center Party is an additional to the Swedish parties, which is under Maud Olofsson. The conservative Moderate Party led by Fredrick Reinfeldt encompasses its foundation on the demand for minimum government involvement with the people, tax reduction and the need for public assistance on private businesses as well as industries and a strong defense. There is also the Liberal Peoples Party that is under Lars Leijonborgs leadership. 

The Left Party, yet another party in Sweden, has both communist and socialist traditions and usually stands in support of the Social Democratic government. The same party opposes the Economic Union membership with the fear that European regulations and integration may jeopardize the benefits for Swedish human resources. Lars Ohly leads this party. The Green Party has no formal leader but the partys spokespersons are currently Peter Erikson and Maria wettersrand. Finally, Goran Hagglund leads the Christian Democratic Party which has for a long time supported a traditional significance and values-based type of government. The party demands that developing countries be given more aid and that a more liberal immigration grant should be adopted. It is strongly anti-abortion and pleads with the government for greater support to help families fight problems to do with the youth, matters related to crime and alcoholism.

There are a number of distinctions between the Danish and Swedish political systems. Denmark, unlike Sweden has fourteen counties and two boroughs. The minor difference that distinguishes the Danish legal system is that its legislative acts undergo a judicial review. Although the prime minister appoints the cabinet in Denmark, it must be approved by parliament. Unlike Sweden where the prime minister is elected by parliament, in Denmark after the legislative elections are carried out, the leader of either the majority party or coalition is appointed by the monarch to be the prime minister. Denmark has fewer seats in the unicameral Peoples assembly consisting of one hundred and seventy-nine seats including two seats from Faroe Islands and another two from Greenland (DENMARK.DK, n.d).

The number of political parties in Denmark is six and that of Sweden is seven. Political parties in Denmark include the Social Liberal Party, Liberal Party, Conservative Party, Social Democrats, Danish Peoples Party and the Socialist Peoples Party. However, the main difference comes in the Danish parliamentary Unity List that excludes the two seats from Greenland and another two from the Faroe Islands. As noted, the Swedish parliament does not have any exceptional reserved seats or a unity list. The monarch for life appoints the judges in Denmark.

The Norwegian political system equally has some distinctions with respect to the Swedish system. Norway has nineteen counties that are slightly less than those in Sweden. The contrast that exists between the Norwegian legal system and the Swedish is that there is the incorporation of the common law traditions into the law of Norway and the Supreme Court is in a position to render its advisory opinions on enquiry. The parliamentary approval that is required during the state councils appointment done by the monarch is another difference existent between these two political systems (GOVERNMENT.NO, 2010).

In Norway, the monarch with parliamentary approval appoints the prime minister and the person appointed must be a leader of the majority party or coalition. The Norwegian unicameral Parliament has one hundred and sixty nine seats and has nine parties that include the Labor Party, Red Electoral Alliance, Progress Party, Conservative Party, Christian Peoples Party, Center Party, Liberal Party and Socialist Left Party. This parliament usually sub-divides itself in two chambers. Finally, the judges are monarchial appointees unlike Sweden.

Although there are dissimilarities that exist between the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish political system, it should be appreciated that the three nations have maintained a constitutional monarch type of unicameral governance. They all have the civil law within their constitution, their suffrage that is eighteen is equally universal and it is clear that all the monarchs of these states are hereditary.