Abstract When the Swedish Centre Party, Centerpartiet, just before Christmas 2012 released a draft for new program of ideas a powerful "winter storm" broke out. Ideas that Centerpartiet would abolish compulsory schooling and the right to inheritance and allow polygamy are just a few of the things that cause alarm. It's not the first time during the last years the Centre Party is associated with neo-liberal elements in their party’s ideology. In 2007 Erik Ullenhag criticized Centerpartiet for their new neo-liberalism was a danger to the alliance. The aim of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to see a change in Centerpartiets ideology and how deep it is. From an idea analytical approach based on ideal types, created for social liberalism, neoliberalism and ecohumanism, the party programs from 2001 and 2013 are studied. The eight components studied are: the view on human nature, most important unit in society, the vision of freedom, methods of social change, political governance, society's economic organization, the vision of prosperity and utopia - the good society. In examining the causes of the potential changes a secondary analysis, where existing material was used, has been implemented. The result shows that there has been a change in ideology in Centerpartiet between 2001 and 2013. The probable causes for this are the bad result in the general election 2010 and the election of a new leadership for the party in 2013. Keywords: Swedish Centre Party, analysis of ideas, ideologies, ideal types, change,

<p>Title: Similarities or differences within the centre-right? A study of the potential for party fusions within in the Swedish centre-right</p><p>Author: Charlie Weimers</p><p>Aim: The thesis seeks to find the potential for party fusions within the Swedish centre-right by analyzing the ideological similarities and differences between the parties.</p><p>Method/Material: In the thesis, four dimensions of the parties’ ideologies are analyzed: view of man, theory for societal structures, fiscal theory and moral values. The results of the study of the ideologies are then compared. The investigation is done with the party manifestos as starting point and with the analysis of ideas as theoretical tool.</p><p>Main Results: The comparative analysis, based on the parties’ ideological views, shows specific party constellations are more probable than others. The biggest ideological similarities are to be found between the Liberal People’s Party and the Centre Party, out of which I conclude that these two parties have the best potential for a fusion. The Moderate Party and the Christian Democratic Party also have clear similarities, thus there is a potential for fusion to a certain degree. The Moderate Party also shows some similarities with the Liberal People’s Party and the Centre Party, hence the possibility for a merger can not be excluded. My conclusion is based upon social liberalism and neo-conservatism as ideal types, which gives the Christian Democratic Party a position to the right. Thus, it would possible to claim that this party has the least options regarding fusion partners. The Moderate Party has the most alternatives, since the party is in a kind of “middle ground” between social liberalism and neo-conservatism.</p><p>Number of pages: 49</p><p>Course: Political Science C</p><p>University: Faculty of Social and Life Sciences, Karlstad University</p><p>Period: Fall, 2006</p><p>Tutor: Anders Broman</p><p>Keywords: centre-right, Sweden, party fusion, ideology, Moderate Party, Liberal People’s Party, Christian Democratic Party, Centre Party</p>

Title: Similarities or differences within the centre-right? A study of the potential for party fusions within in the Swedish centre-right Author: Charlie Weimers Aim: The thesis seeks to find the potential for party fusions within the Swedish centre-right by analyzing the ideological similarities and differences between the parties. Method/Material: In the thesis, four dimensions of the parties’ ideologies are analyzed: view of man, theory for societal structures, fiscal theory and moral values. The results of the study of the ideologies are then compared. The investigation is done with the party manifestos as starting point and with the analysis of ideas as theoretical tool. Main Results: The comparative analysis, based on the parties’ ideological views, shows specific party constellations are more probable than others. The biggest ideological similarities are to be found between the Liberal People’s Party and the Centre Party, out of which I conclude that these two parties have the best potential for a fusion. The Moderate Party and the Christian Democratic Party also have clear similarities, thus there is a potential for fusion to a certain degree. The Moderate Party also shows some similarities with the Liberal People’s Party and the Centre Party, hence the possibility for a merger can not be excluded. My conclusion is based upon social liberalism and neo-conservatism as ideal types, which gives the Christian Democratic Party a position to the right. Thus, it would possible to claim that this party has the least options regarding fusion partners. The Moderate Party has the most alternatives, since the party is in a kind of “middle ground” between social liberalism and neo-conservatism. Number of pages: 49 Course: Political Science C University: Faculty of Social and Life Sciences, Karlstad University Period: Fall, 2006 Tutor: Anders Broman Keywords: centre-right, Sweden, party fusion, ideology, Moderate Party, Liberal People’s Party, Christian Democratic Party, Centre Party

Abstract I analysed Finnish parties’ policies for developing sources of livelihood in Northern and Eastern Finland in 1951–1970. I used the minutes of the main organs of four parties – the Agrarian League/Centre Party, the Coalition Party, SKDL and SDP – as source material. Parliamentary documents were another important source. After World War II, Finnish society had to adapt to peacetime demands. To quickly provide productive work for people and to achieve self-sufficiency in food production as soon as possible, industrial policy embraced expansion of agriculture. As the 1950s arrived it was noticed that the new small farms were unable to support the growing rural population. Thus, an attempt was made to diversify rural sources of livelihood. At the same time, the parties competed earnestly for rural votes, turning this into a very political question. With the exception of the Agrarian League, the parties put forth new programmes in preparing for the 1958 election, which formed a turning point. After the election, a coalition cabinet – Fagerholm’s Cabinet III – was formed; it then had to resign due to foreign political pressure. After the so-called yöpakkaset crisis, the most important criterion of cabinet eligibility in Finnish government politics was that the party had to have the approval of the Soviet Union. Thereafter the parties were no longer able to cooperate in developing rural areas. The parties were in agreement that rural sources of livelihood had to be developed in order to employ Finland’s growing population. They were unable to agree on how this should happen in practice. The Agrarian League sought to develop rural areas through agriculture, small industry and the wood processing industry. SDP raised industrialisation as the main employment alternative. Un-fortunately, because of questions concerning persons, the party split into two competing camps. SKDL supported increasing state-run industry and foreign trade with the Soviet Union. The Coalition Party was for entrepreneurship and trade connections with the West. Regional development policy measures started up in the 1960s were already long overdue. Despite various regional policy measures, Finland was not able to employ the rural population, and Finns moved to Sweden to find work. This can be considered an indication that the implemented policy was not successful. / Tiivistelmä Tässä tutkimuksessa käsittelen suomalaisten puolueiden Pohjois- ja Itä-Suomen elinkeinojen kehittämispolitiikkaa vuosina 1951–1970. Lähteinä ovat olleet neljän suurimman puolueen eli Maalaisliitto-Keskustapuolueen, Kansallisen Kokoomuksen, Suomen Kansan Demokraattisen Liiton (SKDL) ja Suomen Sosialidemokraattisen Puolueen (SDP) keskeisten toimielinten pöytäkirjat. Toisena keskeisenä lähdeaineistona ovat olleet valtiopäiväasiakirjat. Suomalainen yhteiskunta oli toisen maailmansodan jälkeen sopeutettava rauhanajan vaatimuksiin. Elinkeinopolitiikassa valittiin ratkaisuksi maatalouden laajentaminen, jotta kansa saataisiin nopeasti tuottavaan työhön ja saavutettaisiin elintarvikeomavaraisuus mahdollisimman nopeasti. 1950-luvulle tultaessa huomattiin, etteivät uudet pienviljelmät pystyneet elättämään maaseudun kasvavaa väestöä. Näin ollen maaseudun elinkeinojen kehittämistarve oli mitä ilmeisin Pohjois- ja Itä-Suomessa. Samalla puolueet kävivät kovaa kilpailua maaseudun äänestäjistä, joten kysymys politisoitui voimakkaasti. Käännekohdaksi muodostuivat vuoden 1958 vaalit, joihin puolueet valmistautuivat, maalaisliittoa lukuun ottamatta, uusilla ohjelmilla. Vaalien jälkeen muodostettiin laajapohjainen Fagerholmin III hallitus, joka joutui eroamaan ulko-poliittisen painostuksen jälkeen. Niin sanotun yöpakkaskriisin jälkeen suomalaisessa hallituspolitiikassa tärkeimmäksi hallituskelpoisuuden kriteeriksi muodostui se, että puolueella täytyi olla Neuvostoliiton hyväksyntä. Tämän jälkeen puolueet eivät enää pystyneet yhteistyöhön maaseudun kehittämistyössä. Puolueiden välillä vallitsi yksimielisyys siitä, että maaseudun elinkeinoja oli kehitettävä, jotta Suomen kasvava väestö saataisiin työllistettyä. Siitä ei päästy yksimielisyyteen, miten työllistäminen käytännössä tapahtuisi. Maalaisliitto pyrki maaseudun kehittämiseen maatalouden, pienteollisuuden ja puunjalostusteollisuuden avulla. SDP nosti teollistamispolitiikan keskeiseksi työllistämisvaihtoehdoksi. Valitettavasti puolue hajosi henkilökysymysten takia kahteen kilpailevaan leiriin. SKDL kannatti valtiojohtoisen teollisuuden lisäämistä ja ulkomaankauppaa Neuvostoliiton kanssa. Kokoomus oli yksityisyrittäjyyden ja läntisten kauppayhteyksien kannalla. 1960-luvulla aloitetut kehitysaluepoliittiset toimet olivat jo pahasti myöhässä. Erilaisista aluepoliittisista toimista huolimatta maaseudun väestöä ei pystytty työllistämään Suomessa, vaan suomalaiset muuttivat töiden perässä Ruotsiin. Tätä voidaan pitää osoituksena harjoitetun politiikan epäonnistumisesta.

Den breda mitten, eller bara mitten, är ett centralt begrepp i Centerpartiets identitet. Trots detta är Centerpartiets sakpolitik inte särskilt positionerad i ”mitten”. Partiet är snarare det mest högerlutande partiet av samtliga riksdagspartier vad gäller ekonomiska frågor. Samtidigt är själva idén med den breda mitten att etablera ett bredare samarbete över blockgränser men exkludera Vänsterpartiet och Sverigedemokraterna på grund av deras respektive ytterkantsposition. Rent sakpolitiskt är den breda mitten en gåta. Medan fenomenet inte tillåter sig att begripas speciellt väl ur ett sakpolitiskt perspektiv, argumenterar föreliggande uppsats för att det bättre kan förstås utifrån dess symboliska betydelse. Den breda mitten undersöks således som en instans av sekulär religion. Genom intervjuer med Centerpartister kartläggs ett religiöst meningssystem som grundas på; (1) ett heligt ideal om en icke-extrem politisk karaktär i form av mitten; (2) en moralisk gemenskap som sluter upp kring idealet och försvarar det från all form av upplevd extremism, men som är mer intresserad av sitt förakt för Sverigedemokraterna och (3) upplevelser av hur ritualer kring motståndet mot Sverigedemokraterna och självuppoffring för idealet erbjuder frälsning från synden att kunna associeras med Sverigedemokraterna via högeridentiteten. Religionens funktion tolkas vara att reglera diskrepansen mellan partiets identitet och praktik genom ritualer och moraliska argument som triumferar över sakliga problem med motstånd mot Sverigedemokraterna som den övertygande mekanismen. Mitten identifieras vidare som den perfekta täckmanteln för en förlorad högeridentitet och för de framgångar som motståndet mot Sverigedemokraterna bringar partiet, då motstånd mot båda ytterkantspartierna gör att Centerpartiet kan hävda sig som mitten och därigenom attrahera den större grupp väljare som finns där. Motståndet mot Sverigedemokraterna tolkas i sin tur som den grundläggande drivkraften bakom fenomenet den breda mitten, en drivkraft som inte bara bygger på framgångar i termer av en ökad väljarbas utan också på en upplevd välvilja, en dold förhoppning om en alternativ och självständig högergemenskap men även på en möjlighet för Centerpartiet att göra upp med sin egen historia av främlingsfientlighet. / The broad middle, or just the middle, is a central concept in the identity of The Centre Party in Sweden. Despite this, the politics of The Centre Party is not particularly positioned in “the middle”. Rather, The Centre Party is the most right-leaning party of all the parliamentary parties when it comes to economic issues. Simultaneously, the very idea behind the broad middle is to establish wider cooperation across block boundaries but exclude the parliamentary parties The Left Party and The Sweden Democrats due to their respective outer edge position. As a matter of concrete policy, the broad middle is an enigma. While the phenomenon does not allow itself to be understood particularly well from a concrete political perspective, the present thesis argues that it can be better understood based on its symbolic meaning. The broad middle is thus analysed as an instance of secular religion. Through interviews with members of The Centre Party, a religious meaning system is mapped which is based on; (1) a sacred ideal of a non-extreme political character in the form of the middle; (2) a moral community that defends the ideal by protecting it from all sorts of experienced extremism, but whose interest lies more in its contempt for The Sweden Democrats and (3) experiences of how rituals surrounding the antagonism towards The Sweden Democrats and self-sacrifice for the ideal offers salvation from the sin of being associated with The Sweden Democrats trough a Right-wing identity. The function of the religion is interpreted as regulating the discrepancy between The Centre Party’s identity and practise through rituals and moral arguments that triumphs over factual problems with the antagonism towards The Sweden Democrats as the convincing mechanism. The middle is further identified as the perfect cover for a lost Right-wing identity and for the successes that the antagonism towards The Sweden Democrats brings the party, since opposition to both the outer-edge parties allows The Centre Party to assert itself as the middle and thus attract the larger group of voters who are located there. The antagonism towards The Sweden Democrats is in turn identified as the primal driving force behind the phenomenon the broad middle, a driving force that is not only based on successes in term of increased voters but also on an experienced benevolence, a hidden hope for an alternative and independent Right-wing community as well as on an opportunity for redemption with The Centre Party’s own history of xenophobia.