Partistöd

Sammanfattning: Political finance was established during the sixties. The enactment of the government bill for state subsidy by the Swedish Riksdag in 1965 indicated a change of policy in Swedish party finance. Another step in this direction was taken when, in 1969, national government granted county councils and municipalities the right to vote for money in support of parties represented in the councils. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the development of party political finance in Sweden and its consequences for the parties themselves and for democracy.The thesis is divided into nine chapters. The second chapter deals with the theoretical premises and central concepts about political party finance from both a system's and an actor's perspective. The third chapter contains a brief description of the origins of the Social Democratic Party and the Moderate Party (formerly the Conservative Party); the development of their structure, finance, and the scope of their activities during their early period, i.e., up to the twenties. Chapter four outlines the departure from private finance to political finance of political parties during the sixties. The subsequent chapter is reserved for an analysis of the subsidy debate in the newspapers and the Riksdag. Chapters six and seven evaluate the public subsidies with respect to their consequences for the parties and for democracy at the national and local levels. Chapter eight compares the attitudes of the Swedish electorate towards the political finance of political parties with the experiences and opinions of representatives of the political parties. The thesis is based on historical sources from the political parties concerned, official documents and publications, and sample surveys.