No More Political Insiders? Ministerial Selection in Sweden During the Post-WWII Period

Abstract

This chapter focuses on investigating various background features of individual ministers in post-WWII Sweden, specifically on whether ministers have a ‘political insider’ background, or whether they are better characterized as being ‘outsiders’ or ‘experts’. We analyse the background of ministers as a response to several claims made in the previous literature, for example, some scholars suggest that ministers with an ‘outsider’, or non-political background are more likely to be appointed as European integration increases, whereas other scholars focus on the effects of economic conditions, suggesting that ‘technocrats’ are more likely to be appointed during economic crises. On average, freshman ministers in Sweden tend to have a fairly solid political background. A majority of ministers appointed for the first time have a background as members of the Swedish Riksdag or as members of a local parliament. Taken together, evidence from Sweden suggests a continued strong role for politically experienced ministers. The Swedish parliamentary system allows for the appointment of political outsiders, not least during the European economic and financial crisis but the main pattern still is that persons appointed as ministers have a solid political background before taking office.