Vänsterpartiet: Pådrivare eller pragmatiskt stödparti?

Abstract

The Left Party: Instigator of Change or Pragmatic Support Party This article investigates the Left Party in the Swedish elections of 2014. In the electoral arena the party faced competition from several other Left-Wing parties, and in particular lost votes to the Feminist Initiative. The party did not suffer from any large conflicts in the internal arena, despite the party achieving neither the increase in electoral results nor the government participation it had hoped for. In the parliamentary arena, the party was able to gain some influence over the budget, since the new coalition government needed to negotiate with the Left Party in order to gain the necessary votes. The article argues that the party’s position in the party system is largely dependent on the attitude that other parties, particularly the Social Democrats, take towards it.