Juholt steers Swedish social democracy into confusion

Leader Håkan Juholt’s party level distractions are not helping his appeal to the nation. The party is polling worse than it ever has in modern history

"Politics is to want” were the famous words of the iconic Swedish social democratic leader Olof Palme. "Politics is to choose” former Swedish finance minister Pär Nuder often says, stressing the technocratic, economically competent side of the equation.  Being able to prioritise in a reality of limited resources is one of the most important currencies in politics, and it can be lost very fast.

Håkan Juholt is learning this the hard way.

The leader of the Swedish social democrats has abandoned the voters and gone on a speaking tour within the party. Nobody knows when it will end. The party is polling worse than it ever has in modern history and the former leader, Mona Sahlin, who was forced to resign after the disastrous 2010 election, has been out in the media openly criticizing Juholt. Given that admissions of internal disagreement have always been taboo in Swedish social democracy, Sahlin’s frank critique signals a loss of party discipline and cohesion. But then again nothing is the same anymore.

Despite becoming leader just eight months ago, Håkan Juholt is already considered a dead man walking by many commentators. After an expenses scandal, a series of policy u-turns and media mismanagement of epic proportions he has embarked on what was soon dubbed his “I’m sorry tour”, travelling around Sweden to speak to party members in an attempt to repair his reputation.  He has recently, however, stated that the only thing he's sorry for is starting to say he's sorry.

Regardless of the confusion this has generated, party members love the charismatic Juholt, blaming the media for his setbacks. The current lack of policy initiatives from Juholt means a shared distrust of the media is the only cement binding the party together at the moment. The party's relationship to Juholt has been likened to a relationship with a messy but charming boyfriend: every time he screws up all social democrats are sure that this will indeed be the last time. It's only to people outside the bubble that the destructiveness of the whole thing seems apparent.

Though the centre-right Swedish government under Fredrik Reinfeldt is out of steam, Juholt is not considered a credible prime minister, in large part as a result of his actions and strategic choices.

At the same time, it must be recognised that the social democrats already faced significant challenges when he became leader. The big shift that has taken place during the last five years is that the social democrats are no longer trusted on managing the economy, a position that used to belong to the centre-right. Former leader Mona Sahlin left office in March of this year after losing the 2010 election. Her legacy was one of having failed to craft a credible message on the economy in response to the global crisis which hit Sweden in 2008 to 2009.

This negative reputation speaks to a failure to do justice to the record of the nineties, when the social democrats successfully weathered tough economic challenges. Their early negative record in government during the Swedish financial crisis saw public debt double, unemployment triple and the budget deficit increase tenfold. Yet in shouldering responsibility and creating a credible plan for the future, the social democrats were able to balance the budget within four years. They promised deeper budget cuts and sharper tax increases than any other party during the 1994 election. These measures were followed by an adult education programme unprecedented in size and scope. The result was high growth, rising employment and low inflation.

Their achievements stemmed from a combination of dedication to strong public finances and credible reforms to achieve social justice. This earned the social democrats an air of decisive governing competence, which they unfortunately started to take for granted.

Håkan Juholt's mission when he took on as leader in March should have been obvious: to restore respect for Swedish social democracy, even amongst those staunch centre-right voters. However Juholt chose instead to spend months focusing on retaining the love of party members, which he felt was more important.

In order to turn things around and have any chance of coming back he must understand that politics is primarily about being respected – not loved. This particularly applies to centre-left leaders in harsh economic times.

A contribution to State of the Left, a monthly insight report from Policy Network's Social Democracy Observatory

Katrine Kielos is lead-writer for Aftonbladet, Sweden and Scandanavia's largest daily newspaper