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A vital political opposition is one of the cornerstones of democracy, yet we know surprisingly little about the conditions that shape it. In this paper, we offer a comprehensive assessment of the drivers of parliamentary opposition in European Union (EU) politics in five countries: Denmark; Germany; Ireland; Sweden; and the United Kingdom. Based on an extensive hand-coded data set of 7,520 statements made by members of parliament (MPs) during both plenary sessions and deliberations during European Affairs Committee (EAC) meetings, we examine how institutions and party characteristics shape two types of oppositional behaviour: the expression of critique and the presentation of alternatives. We find that both factors are important for understanding to what extent, and how, opposition is voiced in national parliaments. Oversight institutions’ strength and a party’s degree of Euroscepticism jointly function as significant determinants of the likelihood that MPs will express opposition in the form of critique. However, when it comes to the likelihood of offering alternatives, oversight institutions’ strength fails to explain variations in the share of alternatives, while degree of Euroscepticism remains a significant predictor.

Is oppositional behaviour in legislatures gendered? Despite a growing literature on gender and legislative behaviour, there is a conspicuous absence of research on differences between female and male members of parliament (MPs) when it comes to one of the key aspects of parliamentary debates: the voicing of opposition. This article connects the literature on gender and legislative behaviour with opposition scholarship. We examine the role of gender for oppositional behaviour in four legislatures with a focus on debates concerning European Union affairs. Our results show that female MPs generally are equally likely to express opposition as their male colleagues. This result, however, is conditioned by government status. Whilst there is no significant difference between the proportion of opposition expressed by female and male MPs from opposition parties, we find that male MPs representing government parties express more than twice as much opposition as their female colleagues.

This study attempts to break new ground by systematically comparing oppositional behaviour of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the two key arenas found in parliament: the plenary and the committee. Do MPs express more opposition frontstage in the plenary than backstage in the committee when discussing European affairs? The article sheds new light on political opposition in parliament by using a dataset of hand-coded statements made by MPs during plenary debates and European Affairs committee deliberations in five national parliaments. The results lend strong support to the main hypothesis that MPs express more opposition during plenary debates than committee deliberations.

This study provides new insights regarding how the EU dimension relates to the left-right dimension in national politics. It does so by examining to what extent parties’ oppositional behaviour in EU affairs in parliament is a function of their distance to the government, other parties, the voters and party supporters on the EU dimension and the left-right dimension, respectively. The results suggest that oppositional behaviour is determined by two parallel dynamics: When expressing opposition, political parties are receptive both to the positions of the government and other parties on the EU dimension, and to the positions of voters and supporters on the left-right dimension. Our results thus indicate that the politicization of EU affairs in national parliaments primarily is an elite phenomenon. In their relation to the voters and supporters, parties still primarily navigate along the traditional left-right dimension.

Previous research has looked at how Eurosceptic challenger parties can cause mainstream parties to change their policy positions and bring about adjustments to their programmes. We explore whether this contagion effect extends to the parliamentary behaviour of mainstream parties in European Union (EU) affairs. The empirical analysis is based on a large-scale study of 6215 statements made by national parliamentarians in the European Affairs Committee of Sweden between 1995 and 2016. A dynamic panel analysis of the data shows that the oppositional behaviour of Eurosceptic challenger parties has a significant impact on the opposition statements made in EU affairs by mainstream parties. These findings have important implications for the general understanding of factors that drive national EU opposition.

This article offers a comprehensive comparison of oppositional behaviour in European Union (EU) affairs in six countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. By drawing on a unique data set of hand-coded statements made by Members of Parliament during European Affairs Committee (EAC) meetings it provides new knowledge on political opposition. The data uncover that there is more opposition expressed in EU affairs than has been assumed by previous research. The results also reveal that there exists considerable cross-national variation in oppositional behaviour during EAC deliberations in the six countries. The study finally shows that Eurosceptic parties are key drivers of opposition in EU affairs, especially when it comes to opposition directed at the EU political system.

Bakgrund: Psykisk ohälsa postpartum drabbar många kvinnor. Detta upplevs som påfrestande för många mödrar och medförälder. En intervention innebär att vårda på olika sätt. Då en intervention vid psykisk ohälsa postpartum kan upplevas känslosamt i olika aspekter vi anser att det är viktigt att belysa moderns och medförälderns upplevelse internationellt. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa olika aspekter av mödrars och medföräldrars upplevelser kring psykisk ohälsa postpartum. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudie baserad på kvalitativ design där 25 artiklar ligger till grund för resultaten. Analysen utfördes med stöd av Bettany- Saltikov och McSherry (2016). Resultat: I resultatet framkom fem tema: Att behöva vägledning för att återfå de basala funktionerna, Att sakna kunskap om sjukdomstillståndet skapar osäkerhet, Behovet av stödjande samtal och terapeutiska samtal för att bryta skammen, Föräldrarnas förståelse att hantera sina roller, Att vilja bli sedd och hörd vid POP. Interventionerna beskrivs som bristande i många fall, då fokus läggs på mödrarna, medans medföräldrar hamnar i skymundan. Mödrar och medföräldrar upplevde att det saknas vägledning för att återfå de basala funktionerna, trots insatta interventioner. Slutsats: Familjen bör ses som en helhet vid insättning av interventioner vid psykisk ohälsa postpartum, då både modern och medföräldern drabbas. “Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale” behöver anpassas för fäder, som kan uppvisa andra symtom under depressiva episoder än mödrar, för att även kunna fånga upp fäder i ett tidigt skede. Informationen om psykisk ohälsa postpartum är i stor utsträckning utformad för kvinnor, samtidigt saknar fäder anpassad psykoedukation för att kunna vara stödjande för sin partner.

The Paradox of Political Opposition in Multilevel Europe: Examining Plenary Debates in Thirteen Parliaments