The assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in July had an enormous impact on politics in Japan in 2022, with subsequent recriminations regarding connections between ruling party lawmakers and the controversial Unification Church new religious movement leading to public outcry and forcing Prime Minister Kishida to remove several high-profile Ministers from his Cabinet. There was contentious debate over whether a state funeral should be held for Abe, and a new law was passed restricting the fundraising activities of religious groups like the Unification Church. Meanwhile, Japan continued to slowly roll back restrictions introduced to combat COVID-19, finally reopening its borders in October. The Russian invasion of Ukraine provoked protest from the Japanese government and contributed, along with a major drop in the value of the yen to the US dollar, to rising consumer prices, with inflation reaching a 42-year high in October.

The intensification of Russia's war in Ukraine heavily conditioned Latvian politics in 2022. Not only did politicians become more responsive to public calls to proceed with the de-Russification of the public sphere but also major resources were committed to supporting Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid. In the run-up to the parliamentary elections in October, which drastically altered the political landscape, the war overshadowed issues related to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and rampant inflation.

As no elections were held in Lithuania in 2022 and the Cabinet experienced no changes, the article mainly focuses on issues in national politics and institutional adjustments that have affected the conditions for non-partisan electoral committees to compete in elections and changed the balance of power between mayors and municipal councils. Moreover, the article presents developments in the party system, mainly focusing on the newly established Democratic Party “For Lithuania,” which became one of the most popular political parties in Lithuania immediately after its establishment.

Luxembourg politics in 2022 was marked by the economic consequences of Russia's war against Ukraine. The government responded through policy packages negotiated with social partners. The decade-long process of revamping the Constitution finally came to an end, and new measures were taken to allow for greater participation of foreign residents in local politics. The year 2022 was indeed a pre-electoral year, as both local and national elections are scheduled for 2023. Parties started to prepare for these important deadlines through personnel movements.

The year was marked by a general election that gave the Labour Party a third consecutive victory over its rival Nationalist Party as usual with no other parties gaining seats. Following insistent pressure from financial monitoring agencies, the government received a clean bill of health after being ‘grey-listed’ by the Financial Action Task Force. Issues concerning women included the increase in women's representation in Parliament, femicide and abortion. The economy continued to show growth, but so did the deficit, inflation, population size and pressure on amenities and the environment.

The year 2022 was a period of contradictory developments in terms of political stability in the Netherlands. On the one hand, Mark Rutte became the longest-serving Prime Minister in the country's history after celebrating his 12th year in office. On the other hand, the newly formed Rutte IV Cabinet was charged with steering the country through a tumultuous period, marked by soaring energy prices and inflation in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, large-scale civil unrest in response to the government's plans to cut nitrogen emissions, and a political crisis over the housing of asylum seekers.

Politics in Aotearoa New Zealand continued to be dominated by COVID-19 and its consequences in 2022. In the first quarter, the Omicron variant spread throughout the country. As community transmission of COVID-19 became a part of regular life and the response framework was gradually dismantled, political attention shifted to emerging issues in crime and the cost of living. Pursuing at the same time several ambitious policy programmes, the government struggled to control the narrative and lost ground to the opposition in opinion polls. Popular support for government pandemic management, which had led it to the first single-party majority government of the mixed-member proportional system era in 2020, dissipated throughout 2022. The increasing divide in Aotearoa New Zealand was clearly demonstrated by the 23-day occupation of the Parliament grounds, involving anti-government, anti-vaccine and anti-mandate groups, as well as numerous conspiracy and fringe movements.

Following the 2021 parliamentary election, which was a big win for the centre-left, Norway has a governing coalition of the Centre Party and the Labor Party, led by Prime minister (PM) Støre of the Labor Party. The government faced various challenges in 2022 and fell dramatically in public standing, according to public opinion polls. The main difficulties concerned both the government's policy, for instance on COVID-19, on inflation and energy policy, and also some political scandals that led to high-profile resignations. The main opposition Conservative Party, led by former PM Solberg, rose in the polls throughout the year. The leaders of the Green and Socialist Left parties resigned in 2022.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a flow of refugees to Poland on a scale unprecedented in Europe since Second World War. Polish civil society, soon joined by government institutions, responded by offering the refugees, who counted in millions, shelter, material and social welfare assistance and legal accommodation. The war next door turned Poland into an EU and NATO frontline country, which led to more intense contacts between the Polish government and its Western partners, including the United States. This, however, did not help the government, which had marginalized itself within the EU by its own past actions, to resolve its disputes with the European Commission and the Court of Justice. Similarly, the uniform condemnation of the Russian aggression by all major political parties did not bridge the gap between the governing Law and Justice party and the opposition or even reduce the intensity of political conflicts.

In this article, the main events of political life in Portugal are discussed. It includes a report on general elections in 2022, the formation of a new Socialist absolute majority government led by Prime Minister Antonio Costa, and major parliamentary decisions and debates. The year 2022 started with early general elections, strengthening the ruling Socialist Party, which won a majority of seats in the national Parliament. However, it took some time for the new government to learn to govern in the new context.

No elections or referenda were organized in Romania in 2022. The government was preoccupied primarily with the economic, social, and political consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which borders Romania. The ruling coalition, supported by the Social Democrats and the Liberals, was politically stable but undermined by an inability to adequately address social and economic problems (reforming the pension system, reducing inflation, and improving living standards), as well as by frequent disputes between its main political parties, and numerous revelations that prominent government members had engaged in plagiarism during their doctoral studies.

The war in Ukraine and its fallout dominated politics in Slovakia throughout 2022. The coalition split up after the summer, leaving the Cabinet in a fragile position in Parliament. This led to chaotic parliamentary sessions in October and November that ended on 15 December, when the Heger II Cabinet lost a no-confidence vote initiated by a former coalition party Freedom and Solidarity, SaS. As no new parliamentary majority formed, the Heger II Cabinet continued in office under the supervision of President Z. Čaputová, with parliamentary political parties unable to compromise on early elections.

In 2022, voters in Slovenia were invited several times to the polling stations, starting with the National Assembly elections in spring, followed by presidential and local elections. In addition, three nationwide referenda were held in November. The National Assembly elections saw the victory of a newly established party and the appointment of yet another political newcomer to the position of Prime Minister. Only five parties managed to pass the parliamentary threshold, the smallest number since the country's democratic transition. The centre-left coalition government was formed by three parties. Many reforms were promised to be prepared by the new government, including a revitalisation of democracy after several years of democratic backsliding, along with a promise that those in public office will behave differently. The new government formed in June enjoyed high public support in 2022, and by the end of the year, 45 per cent of voters assessed its work as (very) positive.

The year 2022 was marked by the implementation of the Spanish Recovery and Resilience Plan approved by the European Commission in June 2021. Without a general election or changes in the Cabinet, only the main opposition party, the People's Party, experienced a change in leadership, when Pablo Casado resigned and was replaced by Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The political agenda was dominated by the approval of the Law on the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom, better known as the law of “only yes means yes,” the reform of the Criminal Code to remove the crime of sedition and reduce the penalties for embezzlement, and the change of the majority required for the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary. In the international arena, the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the celebration of the 30th NATO Summit in Madrid were the main issues.

The year 2022 in Swedish politics was historic for several reasons. Following the war between Russia and Ukraine, Sweden broke with its long tradition of non-alignment and submitted an application for membership of NATO. After a closely fought election, a right-of-centre minority coalition took office, depending on support from the previously isolated Sweden Democrats. At least initially, the change of government seemed to signify a change to more stability, after several turbulent years since 2014. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic more or less disappeared, but the new government faced several other challenges, including rising energy prices and growing inflationary pressure. The Liberals changed leader. A constitutional amendment was adopted which, according to critics, would make investigative journalism more difficult.

In 2022, Switzerland's notorious fame as an “island of bliss” was significantly challenged by a sequence of numerous unprecedented large-scale crises. While the country has managed to phase out most COVID-19 protective measures already in the year's early weeks, the 202 Russian invasion of Ukraine internationally discredited neutrality—that is, one of the traditional pillars of Swiss identity. This article traces how Switzerland muddled through crisis after crisis. Moreover, it shows how domestic politics was affected by the distinct interconnectedness of the federal and regional (i.e., cantonal) electoral arenas, an above-average number of direct-democratic ballot proposals, as well as by the resignation of two out of seven members of the Federal Council. The article concludes by discussing two major and highly controversial “elephant-in-the-room” issues that are continuing to shape the Swiss political discourse: Swiss–EU relations and institutional reforms to gear up Swiss-style consensus democracy for future crises.

Turmoil characterised politics in the United Kingdom in 2022, with the year seeing three Prime Ministers, the death of Queen Elizabeth II and a deepening economic crisis. Partygate continued to loom large over the Johnson administration, and after a tumultuous few days with mass ministerial resignations in July, Johnson resigned. His successor, Liz Truss, became the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British history, resigning after 49 days. Rishi Sunak became the third Prime Minister since the 2019 general election. The economy was a key area of concern in 2022, with rising inflation worsening a cost of living crisis and fuelling a series of public sector strikes.

American political life in 2022 was dominated by three major events. First, the trials of individuals arrested in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 storming of the Capitol and the televised hearings of the committee of the House of Representatives focusing on the actions and inactions of Donald Trump in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election and fomenting the insurrection. Second, the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade and ending federal guarantees of reproductive rights. Third, the 2022 congressional election and the failure of the expected Republican wave to materialize.