There are conservatives everywhere, unfortunately.
The rise of conservative ideas in Sweden
Mar 9, 2010
During the last years and even more the last weeks, a debate about conservatism and mainly among conservatives has evolved in Sweden. It may seem that the revival of conservatism is somehow odd, since the cultural and political debate in Sweden is mainly going on between different kind of liberals, (social liberals and classical liberals for example) and different kind of socialists. Conservative views have been almost non-existent or marginalized in the central debates.
But nevertheless, now there is a surge for conservative debating in different forums. In Svenska Dagbladet the debate started when the author and former chief editor at Axess, Erik Wallrup, claimed that there is a lack of intellectual conservative debate in Sweden. His opinion was criticized by some of the debaters, but also acclaimed by others. Literature and music critic in Svenska Dagbladet Magnus Eriksson wanted conservatives to have other, more classical, sources of inspiration such as Aristotele, Dostojevskij and Heidegger.
Their ignorance of the history of ideas otherwise made them easy victims for leftist attacks. Lennart Berndtson, lecturer in history at the University of Roskilde, meant that some ideas and opinions of the old conservatives are nowadays paradoxically more frequent among the leftists. Some parts of the left are now ardent supporters of nationalism and protectionism whereas they are united in their resistance towards global capitalism. Furthermore they are critical towards ideas of reason and universal values in their defense of postmodernism and have many other ideas that are not in accordance with the Enlightenment tradition. So, in some aspects left and right has changed position in the debate.
But there also seems to be room for a revitalized conservatism in Sweden. One of the non-socialist parties in Sweden, the Christian Democrats, has tried to approach more conservative positions during the last year. This party had its roots in a movement against the Swedish government's decision in 1963 to remove religious education from the elementary school and make the education more secular and less tied to Christianity. During the decades this party has lowered its profile in religious issues. The former conservative stance on abortion and the sanctity of life has been moderated substantially and also the resistance towards gay rights in Sweden.
More at link:
http://www.stockholmnews.com/more.aspx?NID=4956