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THE SWEDISH MODEL BECOMES LESS SWEDISH | 89

A PROFESSIONALISATION‘LIGHT’?
The overall picture of changing communication practices in Sweden is thus mixed.
Media is becoming more important both as an arena and an actor in the political
communication process. As a reflection of partisan de-alignment, a volatile electorate
and limited possibilities for direct communication, news management is more
important than ever. All these facts should encourage a professionalisation and an
increased marketing-orientation of the political parties.

Such changes are, as noted above, undoubtedly taking place within most political
parties in Sweden. The transformation process is, however, rather slow and does not at
all correspond to the dramatic changes taking place within the electorate and the
media system. Some activities are centralised, more polls are used and more people are
working with media and public relations, but parties still spend more resources on
internal affairs than on voter mobilisation and opinion formation.

It is, however, reasonable to believe that changing practices will become more obvious
in the not too distant future. Some political scientists have predicted that, if the recent
development continues, the Swedish parties will run out of members around 2013
(Petersson et al., 2000). Whether this is a true prediction or not, sooner or later the
parties will have to adapt more completely to a situation where media and voters are
more important for survival than are members and supporters.

Of course, there have been significant international impacts on political
communication in Sweden. In 1995 Sweden joined the European Union, and this
‘Europeanisation’ has of course, to some extent, been affecting public discourse,
introducing a new political level in Sweden. But more important than the formal
membership was perhaps a more gradual process beginning in the early 1990s when
broadcast media was deregulated and newspapers became more independent and
commercial.These media trends were definitely inspired by structural media changes in
Europe (Hadenius, 1992). An internationalisation of political communication thus took
place several years before Sweden became a member of the EU. The national media
system now looks quite similar to a North/Central European standard, sometimes
described as The Democratic Corporatist Model and characterised by external pluralism
in the press and in broadcasting systems with substantial autonomy (Hallin & Mancini,
2004).

However, most communication practices are American in origin, and most political The Swedish Model Becomes Less Swedish
consultants in Sweden have visited the US during election times to learn more about
marketing tools and media strategies. Occasionally, American experts have also played
minor roles as advisers in Swedish election campaigns. Therefore, when it comes to
single methods and practices, it is accurate to talk about an American influence in
Swedish politics. 91