Björn Gustaf von Sydow (born 26 November 1945) is a former

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

(''talman'') of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

, the Swedish parliament. He held this office following the 2002 election, when he succeeded Birgitta Dahl, until he was replaced on 2 October 2006. A member of the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-d ...

, he had been

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

Göran Persson Hans Göran Persson (; born 20 January 1949) is a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Persson was first elected to the Swedish Parlia ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

between 1997 and 2002, preceded by a short term as Minister of Commerce and Industry. Apart from leading the Riksdag sessions, von Sydow was also while in office eligible to serve as acting-regent ('' Riksföreståndare'') in the absence of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and his three children, ''e.g.'' if they all went abroad simultaneously, although that never happened. The speaker also had a key role when the government resigned. However, when

asked for his resignation after the lost 2006 election, the parliamentary situation was very clear, so already on 19 September 2006 Sydow could formally ask

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, and former politician who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014, and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He wa ...

to begin the formation of a new government to take office after the new Riksdag has assembled to approve it. On 2 October 2006, the changed majority situation in the Riksdag also had Sydow replaced by

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

politician and previous Vice Speaker

Per Westerberg Per Erik Gunnar Westerberg (; born 2 August 1951) is a Swedish politician who was Speaker of the Riksdag from 2006 to 2014. He was a Member of the Riksdag from 1979 to 2014, its most senior member from 2006 to his resignation (see Father of the ...

. Already before the election, Sydow had stated that he was not interested in a Vice Speaker position, so that office went to fellow Social Democrat

Jan Björkman Jan Björkman, is a Swedish social democratic politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern ...

.Press release from the Riksdag
, 2 October 2006 von Sydow was awarded a Ph.D. in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Linköping University Linköping University (, LiU) is a public research university based in Linköping, Sweden. Originally established in 1969, it was granted full university status in 1975 and is one of Sweden's largest academic institutions. The university has fou ...

in 1978, and later worked as rector of the Social Work College at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

. In 2008, he was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

. Björn von Sydow has taken his mother's surname and is a distant relative of the actor

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow ( , ; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

. He lives in

Solna Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of t ...

outside

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, is married and has four children.

References

External links

Curriculum Vitae in English
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sydow, Bjorn Von 1945 births Living people Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats Swedish Ministers for Defence Speakers of the Riksdag Swedish political scientists Linköping University alumni Academic staff of Stockholm University Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class Articles containing video clips Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006