The Nordic Voter is the first book-length comparative analysis of voting behaviour in the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.
Leading scholars from national election studies teams present a detailed account of voter turnout, party identification, satisfaction with democracy, preferential voting, government support and party choice. The five-nation study is based on a comparative data set prepared uniquely for this book that allows for comprehensive analysis of the diversity in voting behaviour in the Nordic countries, as well as discrepancies between Nordic and non-Nordic countries.
The book counters the widespread tendency for comparative analyses to lump Nordic countries together. Its general claim, substantiated by a unique and extensive empirical analysis of voter behaviour, is that the differences between the Nordic countries are in fact so large – in terms of institutional settings and micro-level voting behaviour – that there is no justification for making general claims about a typical ‘Nordic voter’.
The authors challenge presumptions about ‘remarkable similarities’ between Nordic voters, revealing numerous examples of remarkable dissimilarities between voters in the Nordic countries.
Some of the most prominent Scandinavian scholars of electoral behaviour convincingly debunk the myth of Nordic exceptionalism. While the five Nordic countries are often seen as being similar systems, this study shows how different they really are and how, in several key aspects of electoral behaviour, such as the role of party identification, they are becoming even more dissimilar. Comparative research at its best. -- Wouter van der Brug, University of Amsterdam
Bengtsson et al offer comprehensive empirical analyses based on election studies in the five Nordic countries, to demonstrate how aspects of electoral behaviour differ significantly between nations. The authors cover important dimensions of voter behaviour and the institutional settings that help explain the similarities and differences between each country, and go on to challenge the idea of Nordic electoral exceptionalism. This highly welcome book represents a great step forward for comparative electoral research on the Nordic countries, and it will be of huge benefit to electoral researchers in this field. -- Oddbjørn Knutsen, University of Oslo
Åsa Bengtsson PhD is professor in political science at Mid Sweden University and currently works as Academy Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science, Åbo Akademi University. She is a member of the Finnish National Election Studies steering group and collaborates on several comparative research projects, including the Comparative Candidate Study and The True European Voter. Her research focuses on political opinion and behaviour with a specific interest in attitudes towards political processes, preferential voting patterns, roles of representation, economic voting and minority politics. Bengtsson has published books, edited volumes and articles in, among others, European Journal of Political Research, West European Politics, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties and Scandinavian Political Studies.
Kasper M Hansen is professor in political science with special responsibilities in applied quantitative methodology at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Political Science. His research focuses on applied research in democracy, political behaviour (particularly voting behaviour) and public opinion. Hansen has published a number of articles in The European Journal of Political Research, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, Public Choice, Electoral Studies, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Scandinavian Political Studies, Public Administration, Politica, Økonomi & Politik, and Metode & Data. Hansen is part of the team conducting the Danish National Election Study. At present, he is involved principally in a large voter turnout research project and in an electoral campaign project. See www.kaspermhansen.eu
Ólafur Þ Harðarson PhD is professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Iceland. His research focus is on electoral behaviour, public opinion, and democracy. He has been the principal investigator of the Icelandic election study from its beginning in 1983, and takes part in international projects, including the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES), and the True European Voter. Harõarson has published books, book chapters and articles in journals including Electoral Studies and the European Journal of Political Research. He sits on the Executive Committee of the ECPR.
Hanne Marthe Narud (1958-2012) was professor of political science at the University of Oslo. Her main research focus was on coalition behaviour, political recruiting, and voting behaviour. She published articles in Comparative Sociology, European Journal of Political Research, Electoral Studies, West European Politics, Scandinavian Political Studies, Party Politics, Journal of Legislative Studies, Journal of Theoretical Politics and Acta Politica, in addition to numerous contributions to books in Norwegian and English. She also wrote a book with Henry Valen on political representation in a multiparty system. She was frequently called upon to commentate on Norwegian politics in the news media.
Henrik Oscarsson is professor in electoral studies at the University of Gothenburg. His research focus is on representative democracy, opinion formation, voting behaviour and political methodology. Oscarsson is research director of the SOM Institute at UoG and head of the Swedish National Election Studies programme (SNES). He has published numerous monographs, edited volumes, book chapters and articles in Scandinavian Political Studies and Party Politics on democracy, public opinion, political behaviour and social science methodology.
