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Essay on The Riksdag: Sweden's Monarchy-Democratic Government

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Sweden in its foundation is a monarchy as well as a democracy, and as such has a parliament which is called the Riksdag. Inside this parliament sits 349 members from various different political parties, each expressing their own opinions on the legislative matters which are discussed inside their unicameral legislature. The seats of the Riksdag are elected on a proportional basis to the amount of votes the party receives from the Swedish people in an election. This means that if a party receives 20% of Sweden’s votes, they will receive 20% of the 349 seats; the next election to be held is in September, 2014. Furthermore, there are 349 seats in order to prevent the hypothetical occurrence of an issue having an equal amount of votes for two …show more content…

The Prime Minister personally chooses the ministers that make up the cabinet; people that are assigned to be part of the cabinet are not allowed to vote in the Riksdag, however they are entitled to participate and contribute with their opinions in the issues discussed inside the Riksdag.
After every government election in Sweden, a vote for who shall be the speaker (commonly referred to as the chairman) is held in the Riksdag. If the speaker is a different person to the previous one, he or she has to submit a proposition of a new Prime Minister. The role of the speaker is to lead discussions inside the unicameral legislature but at the same time stay impartial and not participate directly in the discussions; the speaker also represents the Riksdag internationally because he is the foremost representative of the Swedish parliament.

The 349 members in the Riksdag are divided into 15 different groups called committees, and each committee is responsible for specific issues; for example, issues relating to the environmental issues in Sweden are assigned to the Committee on Environment and Agriculture, while education and school issues are dealt with by the Committee on Education. The different committees discuss and consider issues before the Riksdag votes on them and makes a final decision; additionally, the committees evaluate the decisions made by the parliament.

In my opinion this system is an excellent one; the

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