A week after the Swedish general election all the votes have now been counted and the distribution of Parliament seats between parties and candidates finalised. Some of my readers may be interested in knowing that Walburga Habsburg Douglas, the former Archduchess of Austria-Hungary and daughter of that country's last crown prince, Otto von Habsburg, was not re-elected to the Swedish Parliament.
Walburga Habsburg Douglas was first elected to Parliament for the Conservative party in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010. In this year's election she was demoted to the eighth position on her party's list for the county of Södermanland, meaning that she would need a lot of personal votes to supersede those ahead of her on the list. However, as the Conservatives won three seats from Södermanland and Walburga Habsburg Douglas received only 117 votes she will be neither an MP nor a substitute (i.e. one of those who step in if an MP is absent or renounces his or her seat). Her parliamentary career thus seems to have come to an end.
Saturday 20 September 2014
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Did she have any notable achievements in her parliamentary career? Was she demoted on the party list due to any perceived shortcoming, or simply to make way for others?
ReplyDeleteShe was a typical bankbencher who never made much of a mark, which I suppose may have contributed to her party's decision to put other people ahead of her on the list after eight years.
DeletePerhaps ill health also played a role as Walburga suffered a stroke several year ago when she was in Virginia (2012?) and spent some time recuperating in a Washington, D.C., hospital, either Georgetown or George Washington. Oh, the irony of coming from Sweden and being treated in the USA .. she was in the hospital for some time
ReplyDeleteShe did indeed suffer a severe stroke during a visit to the US in November 2012 and was very ill, keeping her away from Parliament for seven months, but I doubt that had any relevance in this connection as she made a recovery and seems to have been keen to be re-elected. But in an election where her party's prospects looked so bleak I suppose the wish for renewal caused the demotion of a backbencher.
Deleteshe was in the DC hospital for months - and wonder if the Swedish papers discussed what the cost of her care was as she would not have had health insurance. Someone would have been responsible for what probably was a staggering bill (more than $100,000)
ReplyDeleteNo, they did not, for which there are probably several reasons:
Delete- It is not quite done to discuss other people's financial arrangements.
- The Swedish media show less interest in politicians' private lives than the American and British media.
- While it is fairly well-known that the US do not have free public healthcare this is not a major interest of the Swedish media.
- Douglas is almost completely unknown to the Swedish public and consequently there is no interest in how she pays her bills.
The only time I can remember her making a headline was in 2011, when the newly elected leader of the Social Democratic party, Håkan Juholt, was forced to resign after it was disclosed that he had let Parliament reimburse him for the enitre rent for his Stockholm home, although he should only have claimed half of it as he shared the flat with his partner. It subsequently transpired that two other MPs - Douglas and the Social Democrat Susanne Eberstein (First Vice-Speaker of Parliament and tipped to become Speaker when the new Parliament opens) had also claimed the entire rent for their flats reimbursed - however, both defended it by stating that they, not their husbands, used the flats.
Thanks, but I thought it would have made a good story that a Swedish MP received excellent treatment in a US hospital (she said this) coming from a country that has socialized medicine .. a news story comparing the systems. Perhaps Sweden's health care picked up the tab. I was surprised that she was not taken by plane to Sweden because of the cost, but she would have received excellent treatment.
ReplyDeleteWhile healthcare is (almost always) a hot topic in Swedish politics there would be little "newsworthiness" for the Swedish media in such a story. It is fairly well-known that the US do not have free healthcare, but the American system is so different from and generally considered inferior to the Swedish that a comparative study would have little relevance - you normally make comparisons with similar cases or cases you think you can learn something from, and the American system is both very different and not something anyone in Sweden would consider adopting. If the Swedish media were to do a survey of the American healthcare system that would more likely happen in connection with major healthcare reform in the USA or perhaps a presidential election, not because of the illness of an MP unknown to most Swedes. Similarly I doubt the US media would do a comparative study of for instance the Indian healthcare system if a bankbench member of the House of Representatives fell ill on a visit to India.
DeleteTrond, newspapers, magazines, pundits, think tanks have done comparison articles, for general consumption as well as scholarly articles on health care . The New York Times did a piece several years ago on the Dutch health care system, which the Bush administration was looking at as an example. We don't have backbench Representatives. The House and Senate are based on who has the most seats, In the former it is sadly the GOP, but each seat represents a district, big or small, in a state, as I am sure you know. But, yes, if a member of the house or senate got sick in a foreign country, there probably would be coverage in the local papers. In the US, many congressmen and senators are known outside their states. In the US media, I have read a lot about other health care systems, which I think is a good thing, because I believe the AHA is a good start.
ReplyDeleteYes, but that is that my point - I suppose the reason for a comparison with the Dutch system would be the desire/need to do something about the US system, whereas the Swedish system is not up for a major overhaul and if it were the American system is not something that would be considered. Therefore the Swedish media would primarily report on the US system in the context of American politics, not the health of a little-known Swedish MP.
DeleteYes, you do have backbench representatives - all parliaments have backbenchers, i.e. the rank and file members who hold no prominent positions such as chair(wo)man of a committee or spokesperson and who are not well-known to the general public. If I recall there are 435 members of the US House of Representatives; surely all of them are not prominent and well-known.
The US House of Representative is not very different from other national assemblies - that power is based on who has the most seats and can muster the most support and that members represent a district/constituency are common features of most if not all parliaments. And indeed, in Sweden as well as in most other countries there are many members who are known outside their homesteads, but in most parliaments the majority of members are backbenchers. In Sweden, Walburga Habsburg Douglas is one of them.
thanks for your response. The term backbencher comes from the Westminster Parliament. In the House, the GOP sits to the left to the Speaker and the Dems to right, We tend to use the word "junior" to describe the senators with the least experience, the Senior Senator and the Junior Senator from Virginia. I can also assure you that newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, even television news have done pieces on other health care systems including Sweden and Norway. Several years ago, 60 Minutes did a piece on Denmark -from their health care to education to vacations. Yes, plenty of congressmen are not known outside of their districts unless they say something stupid or get caught with their pants down with men or women or commit crimes, but if a local congressman got sick outside the US and was treated in foreign hospital, certainly the media in his area would be on the story But back to Walburga: she comes from a historic family, and she is married to a Swedish nobleman, and that got you to right about her :)
ReplyDeleteNo, in America there are no back benchers akin to a parliamentary system where party loyalty almost always trumps district considerations. While that has changed somewhat in recent years in the Congress, the semi-independence of representatives from their parties is the tradition.
ReplyDeleteYes, there are plenty of bankbenchers in the US Congress, as in all parliaments around the world, i.e. representatives who hold no prominent positions and are not well-known to the public. There is no contradiction between being backbenchers and the semi-independence of MPs; indeed backbenchers typically have more freedom to vote against the party line than frontbenchers - David Cameron would probably have quite a lot to say about that topic...
Delete"Bankbencher" is not to be understood literally (at least not when it is used for a Parliament other than the British) - it does not refer to where an MP physically sits, but to his or her position. In the parliament where I used to work, for instance, MPs are seated according to what county they represent and the counties are arranged alphabetically, which means that for instance the leader of the largest party currently sits in the fourth row. Obviously that does not make him a bankbencher in the real meaning of that word.
ReplyDeleteI know that the US generally use the term "junior" and I am sure that it is called something else in Finland, Botswana or Peru, but here I use it as a general term applied to two different countries and expected people to understand its meaning. I have, by the way, seen the term "bankbencher" used by the Washington Post in rereference to lesser-known US congressmen who are junior legislators or not part of their party's leadership.
I am not sure if I can explain it any differently from what I have already done, but the reason why the US media do such studies is probably that major reform of the healthcare system is a hot political topic in the USA, which makes it natural to compare the US system to other systems one could learn from. That is not the case in Sweden, where there is no need for a major overhaul of the system, but of improving the existing system, and in that context the US system has no relevance. Swedish studies of the US healthcare system would therefore be done in the context of US politics, not the health of a little-known MP - nor of the birth of a Swedish princess in a US hospital, for that matter.
I write about Walburga Habsburg Douglas because my readers are generally interested in members of royal and former royal families and therefore I thought the end of her political career might be of interest to my readers. I did on the other hand not write about her illness or her hospital treatment at that time, as I did not consider that of interest. The Swedish media, which mostly do not report the doings of the royal family, show no interest in her because of her being a former archduchess, a fifth cousin of the King's father or married to an unknown nobleman who is a fifth (I think) cousin of the King. There are plenty of aristocrats in Swedish politics, but that does not single them out for any particular media attention (those who are well-known, such as Carl Bildt or Carl B. Hamilton, are so because of their political merits or positions). As far as I know the end of Douglas's political career has not been reported by the Swedish media.
Trond, what about the papers for Walburga's local district? Would they not be reporting that their MP was not selected to run again? I think you may be missing the point of the discussion of health care. There are plenty of international reports and studies (done in Europe & elsewhere comparing system,) If I were an editor of a major Swedish newspaper, I would have had a reporter do a story for readers showing that if Madeleine had her baby in the Sweden, she would have free or next to free care, post natal care, someone coming to the house or whatever happens in Sweden (far more than here) and comparing it to having a princess in the UK. One assumes Chris had insurance but if not, a very hefty bill (private hospital) and parents are responsible for post natal visits and so on. Other countries have had pointed digs at our system (rightly so) so from my news background aspect, both events would have been good occasions to point out that both received excellent care, but they would have had the same care and treatment at no real cost. I do not think Walburga's stroke was made public right away. I heard about it from a friend of hers who lives here (and it was private info at the time.) She was mentioned in news articles about being in Virginia meeting with GOP (she is a bit right despite being called a moderate.) I didn't want to start a long topic here. I was far more interested (and surprised) by the lack of discussion in Sweden about 2 Swedish citizens one choosing to do so and the other, Walburga, having the stroke in the USA. She did say that she did receive excellent care and treatment. Different perspective on how we see how news stories could be developed. I write about Walburga for the same reason as you (and even provided a link to your story), but I would have enjoyed to see someone, even walburga, do a piece saying, hey, I had a stroke in the US, and spent months in a US hospital being treated ... and show the bill and say ... I could have had the same treatment in Sweden and it would not have cost this much ...
ReplyDeleteDouglas represents the county of Södermanland. Here is how the online version of Södermanlands Nyheter reported on the conservative party's list of candidates for the 2014 election, i.e. telling who have been nominated and who are currently serving, no point being made of the deselection of Douglas: http://www.sn.se/nyheter/sormland/1.2057411
DeleteI know quite well what the discussion of healthcare is about, but you seem to have no knowledge of the Swedish media. I have now tried to explain to you multiple times how the Swedish media work. How you are I would want them to work is an entirely different discussion.
If you were the editor of a major Swedish newspaper and made your paper do reports stating that a Swedish woman who had a child in the USA would have had free care etc. if she had had the child in Sweden or that a Swedish woman who had a stroke in the USA would have had free care if she had had the stroke in Sweden instead you the newspaper would soon find itself fighting for its survival. Those things are known to every adult in Sweden and no newspaper survives on writing stories about the obvious. It would be like writing a story telling the readers that they have the right to vote, but that there are other countries where the people do not have that right. Everyone would already know that. That is also the reason why no Swedish newspaper would do a story about an almost wholly unknown person saying that she was treated for a stroke in the USA, but could have had that treatment for free at home. It would have had absolutely no news value whatsoever.
The American healthcare system is also well-known, but its lack of relevance for the Swedish system means that it is generally not written about in the context of Swedish politics or the private lives of Swedish politicians, but in the context of American politics.
To describe Douglas as "a bit right despite being called a moderate" is by the way not accurate. "The Moderates" is the newspeak name for the conservative party, formerly known as Högern ("the Right"). Except for the Sweden Democrats, a far-right party with its roots in neo-Nazism which entered Parliament four years ago and which all the other parties refuse to have anything to do with, there are no one to the right of the so-called "Moderates", who are the traditional right wing of the Swedish political spectre.
I meant to say that she was a bit right even though her party is called Moderate. well aware that she was hanging around with Tea Party nutters here in the USA. I was being polite. I certainly do not know a lot about the Swedish media, but I certainly doubt that an article about Princess Madeleine having a baby in a US hospital (and probably paying a bit of money - as insurance does not cover all) -- would not have brought down a newspaper. But as you say different ways of approaching a story .. but I do think it is strange that Walburga's local paper did not mention that their MP was not selected again to run. Now that would not be the case in the local media for congressmen & senators. it would be news in the local area, sometimes on a state level, even national if the person was nationally known. I learned about Eric Cantor's loss in a British newspaper ....(and danced in the street although the new candidate is even worse).
ReplyDeleteWhen I explore European royal and noble genealogies, I'm amazed at the preponderance of royal descendants resident in, and/or married to natives of, countries other than the one of their upbringing (Ms. Habsburg Douglas being an example). This even in families whose connection to extant thrones is remote, and whose members therefore may be considered private individuals, and frequently in spite of long distances and language barriers. Might you have any insights as to the reasons behind this?
ReplyDeleteIn any case, thank you for your (as always) interesting articles!
Thank you, and sorry for the late reply (I have been away for a week). I do not think there is any good answer to your question, other than that royal families have traditionally had international networks which may have faciliated their getting into touch with potential life partners from abroad.
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