In the present paper we study local elite integration from a social network analytic perspective in Sweden, at the municipal level of political administration. The elites’ overall integration, the significance of informal personal relations for elite integration, and the role of political stability for elite integration are among the study’s main research questions. Empirically the study draws upon original data collected from positional samples of local elites (politicians, civil servants, business representatives, etc.) in four mid-sized Swedish municipalities. Overall the results indicate that local elites in Sweden are well integrated into one fairly unified social entity, structurally ordered around tightly connected social cores of high-ranking politicians and civil servants. We discuss the results and their significance in relation to elite integration’s importance as far as the functioning of democratic institutions is concerned, and also with reference to the common understanding of Sweden having a dual elite structure.

Women occupy a small minority of elite positions in contemporary society. In addition, the minority of women who gain access to influential elite-positions are often assumed to have their actual influence circumscribed by mechanisms of marginalization. However, systematic evidence to support the latter view is relatively scarce. We apply social network analysis to study sex differences in local elite networks in Sweden, and show empirically that despite the fact that women are the minority group across all elite dimensions; female elites uphold the same “structural status” as male elites.

Social clubs and other voluntary settings have repeatedly been pointed out as sites where social elites encounter each other and enjoy the opportunity to cultivate their within-elite personal relations under informal circumstances. Since elites’ personal connections represent a non-trivial aspect of their entrepreneurial opportunity structures, i.e. how they are able to get things done, it is essential to understand the significance of voluntary activities for elites’ personal networks. We lack, however, unequivocal knowledge about this. The aim of the present article is therefore to empirically explore how service club membership—one particularly prevalent form of voluntary activity among community elites—potentially affects such actors’ personal networks. The study is theoretically informed by a network-based conception of individual-level social capital, and distinguishes between brokerage and closure forms of social capital-producing mechanisms. Empirically, the study draws upon data collected through personal interviews with 248 local elites (politicians, corporate leaders, civil servants, etc.) in four mid-sized Swedish municipalities, and focuses particularly on the potential effect of Rotary Club membership among the elites. The results suggest that Rotary Club membership may have an optimizing impact on local elites’ personal networks, in terms of the relative prevalence of brokerage opportunities and tendencies towards social closure.

One of the most essential function of the political opposition in stable democracies is to represent a credible alternative to the sitting government. The cohesion of the opposition parties’ pre-electoral coalitions is likely to play an important role in this regard. In this paper I compare the parliamentary-level social cohesion of two pre-electoral multiparty coalitions in Sweden: the four-party right wing-liberal Alliance for Sweden coalition, which successfully defeated the sitting Social Democratic government in the 2006 general elections, and the ultimately failed effort of the three-party Red-Green collaboration formed during the following parliamentary cycle. The study takes Robert Dahl’s notion of oppositional cohesion (1966) as a theoretical starting point and adopts a network analytic perspective in that social cohesion within these coalitions is investigated utilizing an analytic strategy adopted from the legislative networks literature. The results indicate that the opposition Alliance for Sweden was considerably more socially cohesive and well integrated across party boundaries than the later Red-Green coalition. These results are discussed in terms of the potential organizational benefits that socially well-integrated multiparty coalitions enjoy and in particular the electoral success of the Alliance for Sweden in 2006.