In Western Europe, Public Attitudes Toward News Media More Divided by Populist Views Than Left-Right Ideology

In Western Europe, Public Attitudes Toward News Media More Divided by Populist Views Than Left-Right Ideology. Pew Research Center.  Amy Mitchell et al. May 14, 2018.

 In Western Europe, public views of the news media are divided by populist leanings – more than left-right political positions – according to a new Pew Research Center public opinion survey conducted in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Across all eight countries, those who hold populist views value and trust the news media less, and they also give the media lower marks for coverage of major issues, such as immigration, the economy and crime. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

 [PDF format, 118 pages].

Views on National Economies Mixed as Many Countries Continue to Struggle

Views on National Economies Mixed as Many Countries Continue to Struggle. Pew Research Center. Margaret Vice. August 9, 2016.

Almost a decade after the global financial crisis rattled national economies, many in the world feel their respective countries’ economies remain weak.The survey reveals a bleak picture in parts of Europe, with more than eight-in-ten in Greece, France and Spain describing their country’s economic situation as bad. This gloom is not shared by all in the European Union, however – most Swedes, Germans and Dutch say their economy is doing well. And in China, India and Australia, views are mostly positive. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 13 pages, 151.86 KB].

Breaking the Nordic Defense Deadlock

Breaking the Nordic Defense Deadlock. Strategic Studies Institute. Stephen Forss and Pekka Holopainen. February 20, 2015.

Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are urgently considering how best to optimize limited defense resources in the face of a newly assertive Russia. The monograph proposes enhanced defense cooperation, both regionally and with the United States, as a means to ensure the security of U.S. allies in a strategically vital region.

[HTML format with a link to the PDF file, 87 pages, 2.21 MB].

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Explains Feminist Foreign Policy

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Explains Feminist Foreign Policy. U.S. Institute of Peace. James Rupert. February 9, 2015.

When Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström announced last year that her government would pursue a “feminist foreign policy,” the idea “met with considerable derision,” she says. “We call it the giggling factor.” And where the response was not quiet laughter, it was often confusion, including in Washington. “No one knows what this means” for Sweden’s approach to conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war, a Foreign Policy headline declared in December. Wallström filled a hall at USIP to explain. A feminist foreign policy seeks the same goals as any visionary foreign policy: peace, justice, human rights and human development, she said. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

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