Tidens förlag

With a basis in his doctoral dissertation ”Rivstart” (1987), Hans Bergström presents the situation at the time of the takeover of the Carl Bildt government in 1991, in this book in honor of professor Olof Ruin. The essay is foremost a qualified political science analysis of the conditions for governing with a coalition in the minority. This is a difficult type of government, partly because it has to make compromises in two steps, first between parties in government, then with other parties to gain a majority in parliament. Still, minority coalitions have become common, on both sides of the political spectrum.

This doctoral dissertation from 1987 analyses time as a political factor. Political logic before an election is distinctly different from after an election. Conditions for action early on for a new government are much more favorable than later. A central observation is that the skills required to win an election are totally different from those needed to govern successfully and handle the Executive. Still, the sense of mandate for a new government provides special opportunities at the start, for which a winner is rarely well prepared.