Är politiska tjänstemän välförankrade partirepresentanter?

Abstract

This thesis uses statistical methods to investigate if political appointees working for the Swedish government are good representatives for the members of the ruling party. This is a relevant question since the number of political appointees and the political fields in which they are employed have increased. Some say that this is a sign of presidentialism, which in this context means that the prime minister and his cabinet are becoming more independent from parliament and supporting party. The research is done by comparing the political appointees with an select elite of party members regards to socioeconomic background, which interest that are promoted in society and ideology. The consequences of differences on these characteristics between political appointees and the party elite could be that some interest in society are wrongly overrepresented while others are wrongly underrepresented by the unelected political appointees. There could also be consequences for which policies are promoted. In the bigger picture these differences could eventually damage the legitimacy of the parliamentary system. The results of the research show that the political appointees can be considered good enough representatives of the ruling party, although not without some caveats.