Nordic agrarian parties

The Nordic agrarian parties, or Nordic Centre parties, are agrarian political parties that belong to a political tradition particular to the Nordic countries. Positioning themselves in the centre of the political spectrum, but fulfilling roles distinctive to Nordic countries, they remain hard to classify by conventional political ideology.

These parties are non-socialist and typically combine a commitment to small businesses, political decentralisation, environmentalism and, at times, scepticism towards the European Union. The parties have divergent views on the free market. Internationally, they are most commonly aligned to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and the Liberal International.

Historically a farmers' party, a declining farmer population after the Second World War made them broaden their scope to other issues and sections of society. At this time three of them renamed themselves to Centre Party, with Finnish Centre Party being the last to do so, in 1965.^[1] Now, the main agrarian parties are the Centre Party in Sweden, Venstre in Denmark, Centre Party in Finland, Centre Party in Norway and Progressive Party in Iceland.

History

Compared to continental Europe, the peasants in the Nordic countries historically had an unparalleled degree of political influence, being not only independent but also represented as the fourth estate in the national diets, like in the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates. The agrarian movement thus precedes the labour movement by centuries in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

The first of the parties, Venstre in Denmark, was formed as a liberal, anti-tax farmers' party in 1870. The rest of the parties emerged in the early 20th century, spurred by the introduction of universal suffrage and proportional representation across the region.^[2] Finland's Agrarian League was the first to be created in 1906, followed by the Agrarian Party in Norway in 1915. Sweden's Agrarian Party, founded in 1921, emerged from the existing Lantmanna Party, and its splinter groups.^[2]

As the Scandinavian farming population declined, the parties moved towards becoming catch-all centrist parties by capturing some of the urban electorate.^[3] The Swedish Agrarian Party renamed itself to the Centre Party in 1958. The Norwegian and Finnish parties adopted the same name in 1959 and 1965 respectively.^[3]

After the end of Soviet rule in the Baltic countries, the Estonian Centre Party (established in 1991) and Lithuanian Centre Union (1993) were modelled explicitly on the Swedish example.^[4] The Latvian Farmers' Union of the post-communist era views the Nordic agrarian parties as models, too, aiming to be a centrist catch-all party instead of a pure single-interest party of farmers.^[5]

Ideology

The parties' attitudes to the free market and economic liberalism are mixed. Whereas the Norwegian Centre Party and Icelandic Progressive Party are opposed to economic liberalisation,^[6] the others, most notably the Danish Venstre, are pro-market and put a heavy emphasis on economic growth and productivity.^[7] Because of this divide, Venstre are described in some academic literature as the separate 'half-sister' of the Nordic agrarian parties.^[3] Nonetheless, all of the parties define themselves as 'non-socialist', while also distancing themselves from the label of 'bourgeois' (borgerlig), which is reserved for the conservative and liberal parties.^[3]

Most of the parties have traditionally sat on the Eurosceptic side in their respective countries.^[8][9] However, for the most part, they hold these positions due to particular policies, with an emphasis on whether they believe European policies to be better or worse for rural communities.

The Centre Party in Norway is the party most opposed to European Union membership, having maintained that position since the 1972 referendum. The Icelandic Progressives, historically opposed to membership, changed their position to pro-accession in January 2009. The Danish Venstre is also in favour of the European Union and Denmark's entry into the Eurozone.

Political support

While originally supported by farmers, the parties have adapted to declining rural populations by diversifying their political base. The Finnish Centre Party receives only 10% of its support from farmers, while Venstre received only 7% of their votes from farmers in 1998.^[10]

Parties

The Centre parties in Sweden, Finland, and Norway have similar backgrounds and identities, as indicated by their similar logos, based on the four-leaf clover.

The current Nordic agrarian parties are:

•  Åland Islands: Åland Centre^[11]
•  Denmark: Venstre^[12]
•  Finland: Centre Party^[12][13]
•  Iceland: Progressive Party^[11][13]
•  Norway: Centre Party^[11]
•  Sweden: Centre Party^[11][12]

Historical agrarian parties include:

•  Denmark: Farmers' Party^[13]
•  Finland: Finnish Rural Party^[11]

See also

• List of agrarian parties
• Agrarian parties of Finland

Bibliography

• Arter, David (1999). Scandinavian Politics Today. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-5133-3. 
• Arter, David (2001). From Farmyard to City Square?: the Electoral Adaptation of the Nordic Agrarian Parties. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-7546-2084-6. 
• Esaiasson, Peter; Heidar, Knut (1999). Beyond Westminster and Congress: the Nordic Experience. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8142-0839-7. 
• Hilson, Mary (2008). The Nordic Model: Scandinavia Since 1945. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-1-86189-366-6. 
• Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2007). Cotta, Maurizio; Best, Heinrich, eds. Restructuring of the European Political Centre: Withering Liberal and Persisting Agrarian Party Families. Democratic Representation in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 217–252. ISBN 978-0-19-923420-2. 
• Siaroff, Alan (2000). Comparative European Party Systems: an Analysis of Parliamentary Elections. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-8153-2930-5. 

References