Politics of Sweden
Sweden has a typical Western European history of democracy, beginning with the old Viking age Ting electing kings, ending with a hereditary royal power in the 14th century, that in periods became more or less democratic depending on the general European trends.
The most important is the Instrument of Government of 1974 which sets out the basic principles of political life in Sweden, defining rights and freedoms.
The Act of Succession is a treaty between the old Riksdag of the Estates and House of Bernadotte regulating their rights to accede to the Swedish throne.
The constitution differs from most other Western countries in aspects such as having a unicameral parliament, limited municipal autonomy, and the lack of a supreme court with power to overturn legislature.
The four fundamental laws are: A hereditary monarch, currently King Carl XVI Gustaf of the House of Bernadotte serves as head of state since 1973.
[5] Following a lengthy government formation process as a result of the general election held on 9 September 2018, Stefan Löfven of the Swedish Social Democratic Party was re-elected prime minister of Sweden for a second term by the new parliament on 18 January 2019, after initially being ousted by parliament.
Her plan for forming a new coalition government with the Green Party was unsuccessful because her budget proposal failed to pass.
This is considered one reason for the Swedish post-war welfare state, with a government expenditure of slightly more than 50% of the gross domestic product.
These bodies are state-controlled and are formally headed by government-appointed directors-general but act independently from the executive and legislative branches of government.
Some Swedish political figures that have become known worldwide include Joe Hill, Carl Skoglund, Raoul Wallenberg, Folke Bernadotte, Dag Hammarskjöld, Olof Palme, Carl Bildt, Hans Blix, and Anna Lindh.
According to a survey investigation by the sociologist Jenny Hansson,[15] Swedish national parliamentarians have an average work week of 66 hours, including side responsibilities.
Hansson's investigation further reports that the average Swedish national parliamentarian sleeps 6.5 hours per night.
However, in February 2009, the Swedish centre-right wing government announced that new nuclear power stations may be constructed if they replace old ones, thus ending the previous de facto phase out policy.
[17] Sweden was the highest ranked country in the Climate Change Performance Index until 2022, when it was displaced by Denmark.
Throughout the 20th century, Swedish foreign policy was based on the principle of non-alignment in peacetime, neutrality in wartime.
This principle has often been criticised in Sweden, allegedly being a facade, claiming that the Swedish government had an advanced collaboration with western countries within NATO.
During Cold War era politics, Sweden was not under the Warsaw Pact and received only minimal aid from the Marshall Plan.
[citation needed] In 1995 Sweden, together with Finland and Austria, joined the European Union which extended the number of member countries from 12 to 15.
The public opinion in the Nordic region had changed in favour of joining NATO since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
