Tala är silver, men är tiga guld? : En studie av den socialdemokratiska regeringens kommunikation till väljarna, åren 1994-2006

• Main Author: Bäckström, Gustav
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Högskolan i Kalmar, Humanvetenskapliga institutionen 2007
• Subjects: Swedish politics; elections; mandate theory; sanction theory; communication; election manifesto.; SOCIAL SCIENCES; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hik:diva-42

In this study, I have examined the previous Social Democratic government’s communication with the voters, focusing on its promises during election campaigns, and the presentation of achieved results. The theories used are the mandate- and sanction theory; the first focuses on voters comparing manifestos to find the most agreeable, whilst the latter concentrates on voters evaluation the work of the previous government, to either discharge or support it. For the sanction theory to work, voters must have the necessary information to evaluate the government in progress. The question is; did the previous government provide the voters with such information? This has been done through scrutinizing the Social Democrats’ election manifestos that was used between 1994 and 2006, to examine what the party promised to achieve in economics and the labor market. Furthermore, I have studied the official statistics, provided by Statistiska Centralbyrån, to see whether the government fulfilled these promises, and if they provide the voters with the results of these promises. The study shows that the Social Democrats display a lack of result presentation to the voters; neither the promise that was fulfilled, nor the ones the party failed to achieve were properly accounted for. This makes it more difficult for voters to evaluate the government’s performance, which poses a threat to the representative democracy; voters must be able to assess the governments, so that they may execute sanctions and remove the government from office when unsatisfied.