REGULATING THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS - POLITICAL RHETORIC IN SWEDISH AND AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTIONS

The question addressed in this analysis is one with broad theoretical and comparative implications: how do key political and social institut ions, which we call regulatory mechanisms, affect the marketplace of i deas in different polities? First, election and party systems, interes t groups, political financing, and the mass media are identified as th e most obvious market mechanisms operating to regulate the flow of ide as in democratic societies. Second, this framework is then applied to case studies of party and candidate rhetoric in recent Swedish and Ame rican national elections. Although more developed in the United States than in Sweden, both cases reveal a drift toward negative equilibrium in the marketplace, characterized by the decline of party loyalties a nd voting participation, along with a widespread loss of faith in poli ticians and political language.