Publication details
Politika v ministátu: islandský stranický a politický systém ve 20. století
| Title in English | Politics in Ministate: Icelandic Party and Political System in the 20th Century |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2003 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Politologická revue |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Political sciences |
| Keywords | Iceland; parties; politics; polity; policy; cleavages |
| Description | This study deals with the founding and development of party and political system of Iceland. The topic is discussed from the point of view of comparing perspective with other Scandinavian states. The general aim of the article is to sketch the particularities of Icelandic parties and party system. The roots of these differences are based on two reasons: first of all, it is the specific formation of cleavages in Icelandic society during 20th century. The most important cleavage of Western European societies - workers versus owners - is weakly developed in Icelandic condition, however it does not completely absence. Maybe the most important cleavages were the urban versus rural and centre versus periphery. After World War II the NATO issue and American military base on the island played prominent role. Secondly, specific appearance of Icelandic politics has been strongly influenced by the small proportions of society and political elite. On the one side, it has been formed by signification of personal ties. On the other side, there has been small importance of ideological divergences. The result was untypical look and interaction within party system. Icelandic social democrats were weaker than communists unlike the situation in Sweden, Denmark or Norway. The social democrats were (pre)dominant party and radical left was very poor. Beside them, Iceland social democrats were situated on the centre side of the political spectrum while other Nordic social democrats on the left (or centre-left) side. The (anti-NATO) communists were several times incorporated into the government coalitions after World War II (typically with social democrats and/or agrarian Progressive Party). The role of dominant party was played by (pro-NATO) liberal-conservative Independent Party. This party was more significant than other Scandinavian right-wing parties and represented a really catch-all party. The transformation of the party system, which began in 1970s, ended by the reconstruction of left-wing side of party system in the turn of the 20 and 21 century. The social democrats, (post)communists and (new element in the system) Woman Alliance created new unified party - Alliance. Election 2003 demonstrated the possibility, that Alliance could play a role of second major pole in the party system in the future. Beside it, there emerged rival Left - Green Movement on the left from Alliance, which was established by the radical groups from post-communists and Women Alliance. |