Lojalitet och representation - Svenska statsrådsrollens tolkningsdilemman
SwedenRepresentational stylePrincipal of partyGovernmentCommon goodPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
The appointing of Swedish governmental officials has gone through a dramatic change the last nine years. The tradition of officials appointed due to their political experience has been traded against the appointing of experts. In this study I ask questions about this new way of appointing representatives effects how these officials interpret their role. An official that who has never been in the party before appointed, obviously cannot consider the principal of party. With the theoretical approach of normative representation theory (representational style) I perform case studies that shows some change. Due to the proportional election system in Sweden and the parties monopoly of appointing political candidates, the party principal will still have an important role. However, the case studies that has been done of former director of justice, Thomas Bodstrom, and sitting director of finances, Anders Borg, shows us that the importance of the principal of party has been reduced. In governmental propositions and political debates we can se a clear pattern where the officials refer to the common good. If we expand the term local representation, including other forms of groups, we can also see cases where the officials refer to the imperative mandate.representational style, Sweden, principal of party, government, common good