Liberalism och konservatism inom Moderata Samlingspartiet : En idéanalys av Moderaternas idéprogram mellan åren 1956-1993

During the first part of the twentieth century the Swedish Moderate party described themselves as a classical conservative party. During the later part of the century the party started to adopt a more prominent liberal mindset and by 1978 the Moderate party described themselves combining the liberal and conservative tradition. Within the academia there is a difference of opinion when it comes to the relationship between liberalism and conservatism within the Moderate party. This study aims to shine new light on this debate by using a new model of analysis. By constructing typical ideas of the liberal and conservative tradition and using these ideas to analyse the party’s political programs this study describes the relationship between liberalism and conservatism between 1956 to 1993. The study shows that there has been a substantial ideological shift during the time period analysed. In 1956 the typical conservative ideas where the centerpiece of the party ́s ideological viewpoints but in 1993 this focus had shifted completely and the party had at this point adopted and centered its ideological viewpoints around the ideas of classical liberalism. The conservative ideas have not been replace and the conservative idea of preserving old institutions and norms is a constant in the party ́s ideology during the whole time period