FOREIGN-POLICY OBJECTIVES - LEFT SOCIALIST OPPOSITION IN DENMARK, NORWAY AND SWEDEN

Due to their foreign policy opposition, the left socialist parties in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden remain among the few parties in Western de mocracies that lack governmental experience. When political parties co nfront political issues, they can either choose a competitive or a coo perative strategy. The Norwegian and Swedish left socialists chose com petition when the EU issue appeared on the scene in the early 1990s. T he Danish Socialist People's Party, on the other hand, opted for a coo perative strategy and accepted EU membership and the 1993 Edinburgh Ag reement. Drawing on coalition theory, this article asks why.