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THE SWEDISH MODEL BECOMES LESS SWEDISH | 91

it reduces the need for professional skills in these fields, while on the other hand more
experts on news management are required.

Fourthly, the traditional media structure in Sweden can still be described as ‘politics-
friendly’. Even if most newspapers are now more or less independent of political parties
and there is a dualistic broadcast system, most of the national media still pays a great
deal of attention to political affairs, particularly during the run up to an election. Polls,
power plays and scandals are becoming more frequent news items, but much time and
space is nevertheless spent on more serious political coverage (Strömbäck, 2004). It is
worth noting that Swedish tabloids are much more serious than most of their European
counterparts and the biggest commercial TV station is still operating under public
service-like conditions. Media is free and operating on the market, but the political
coverage is not basically market-oriented.

A DEMOCRATIC DILEMMA
As communication processes are decisive for politics in modern democracies, the
conditions and characteristics of these processes thoroughly affects the quality of
democracy (Swanson & Mancini 1996; Blumler & Kavanagh, 1999; Bennett & Entman,
2001). As the professionalisation of party politics increases, in terms of the number of
marketing experts and the usage of new techniques in the parties, they will probably
focus more on strategies for maximising voter support and media attention than
keeping up with issue-orientation, ideology positioning and public concerns. The fact
that party identification is declining and the electorate is becoming more volatile
further endorses this development.Dramatic opinion shifts in voter support for political
parties stresses the need for professional skills in evaluating public opinion when
politics becomes more a question of survival than a question of substance.

The risk associated with the ongoing process of professionalisation is thus a further
weakening of the position of political parties. Of course parties sometimes have to
disappear if they become obsolete, but at the same time it is difficult to imagine a
strong democracy completely without political parties, basing their legitimacy on the
ability to articulate common interests in society, set the agenda, make coherent
decisions and implement these decisions.If parties in the future are reduced to become
only voting mobilisation organisations,then party-based democracy is surely at stake.

In another scenario, however, it can be argued that an increased ability to interpret and The Swedish Model Becomes Less Swedish
analyse public opinion could actually offer essential contributions to democracy. From
a political marketing perspective, politics is always the result of public needs and
existing preferences among citizens. Thus, political parties further adapting to such
needs and priorities should have excellent prospects of becoming successful in terms
of public support and in obtaining parliamentary seats. In this case marketing tools,
news management and professional skills could be seen as a form of precision work
which improves democracy. 93