This book explains how the Sweden Democrats (SD), a populist radical right party, has moved from the fringes into the mainstream of Swedish politics.
SD has experienced rapid growth and success in Sweden in recent years. Following the 2022 elections, SD became an official support party to a right of centre minority coalition. The party has managed this sustained electoral growth since it entered parliament in 2010, despite having roots in right-wing extremism, including some links with fascism and nazism. For these reasons it was for many years isolated by other parties, and given an overwhelmingly negative treatment by the media. This book explores the position of SD in the electorate, the changing status of SD among Swedish voters, and how other parties interact with SD. The analysis sheds light on the route into the mainstream of a party without a reputational shield. The argument is that, although the route SD has taken is different, it is only a matter of time before SD will take the final steps into the Swedish political mainstream and reach a position comparable to those of the Danish People’s Party, the Finns Party or the Norwegian Progress Party.
The text will be of interest to scholars and students of European politics, comparative politics and populism.

lgrsnf/The Sweden Democrats in Transition.pdf

Ashgate Publishing Limited

Taylor & Francis Ltd

Gower Publishing Ltd

Psychology Press Ltd

CRC Press

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
1 Meatballs and mash
1.1 A meeting with historical significance
1.2 The comparative context
1.3 The Swedish context
2 A fourth phase – even in Sweden?
2.1 Phases of the radical right
2.2 Responses to the radical right
2.3 Thresholds and trade-offs
2.4 The mainstream – a re-conceptualisation
3 Up, up and away – trends in support for the Sweden Democrats
3.1 Election results
3.2 Opinion polls in Sweden
3.3 The long-term trend
3.4 2007–2010: the breakthrough phase
3.5 2011–2014: consolidation and further growth
3.6 2015–2018: the sky is the limit
3.7 2019–2022: up and down – and up
3.8 Closer and closer to the mainstream
4 From splendid isolation towards a right-of-centre bloc
4.1 Increasingly liked – but how disliked?
4.2 The long-term trend
4.3 Variations in the negativity
4.4 The end of bloc politics – or reconfiguration of the blocs?
5 The normalisation of SD, phase 1
5.1 2010–2014: the awkward newcomers
5.2 2014–2015: the rise and fall of the December Agreement
5.3 2016–2018: still isolated, but . . .
6 The normalisation of SD, phase 2
6.1 2018–2019: the January Agreement
6.2 2019–2021: the landscape changes
6.3 The 2022 election
6.4 The Tidö Agreement
7 A transformed mainstream
7.1 A turbulent period
7.2 How the mainstream parties changed
7.3 Why the mainstream parties changed: five reasons
7.4 Why the mainstream parties changed: further reasons
7.5 The fourth phase: a transformed mainstream
7.6 A fifth phase?
Appendix A. List of polling organisations cited in Chapter 3
Index

2025-03-21