This thesis studies group threat theory and contact theory, by analysing whether a change in the exposure to refugees, following a demographic composition shift, results in increased or decreased political support for parties with either an anti- or a pro-immigration political program. It employs a continuous difference-in-difference method by analysing data from Swedish national elections in 2014 and 2018 across all municipalities, combined with the electoral performance of the Sweden Democrats and the Swedish Green Party. The findings reveal a positive correlation between increased refugee intake and the electoral support for the Sweden Democrats, while the Swedish Green Party experiences decreased support. This suggests a trend toward bolstered backing for anti-immigrant platforms in areas with greater refugee exposure, and thus also supports arguments presented within group threat theory. While intergroup contact with immigrants is a well-studied area, limited attention has been devoted to refugee immigration.  Finally, this thesis underscores the need for further investigation of the political and social ramifications of increased refugee immigration on native populations. This holds strong political relevance, as we are likely to continue experiencing high levels of immigration. A suggested way to build off this thesis is by studying the relevant mechanisms, or by establishing the extent and type of experienced intergroup contact.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Ivan Filipe de Almeida Lopes Fernandes / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Políticas Públicas, São Bernardo do Campo, 2018. / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a relação existente entre a deterioração do contexto econômico e a ascensão eleitoral de partidos radicais (PRs) de direita (PRDs) e de esquerda (PREs) entre 2003 e 2016 na Europa. Partimos da hipótese de que a situação da economia não só gerou um sentimento anti-establishment na população dos países europeus, mas também realçou ressentimentos preexistentes, decorrentes de mudanças na estrutura produtiva e na composição étnica da população desde a década de 1980, com o aprofundamento da globalização produtiva. Estudamos 94 eleições para os Legislativos nacionais de 26 países das Europas ocidental e oriental, o que permite analisar a relação entre indicadores socioeconômicos, variações do sentimento anti-establishment e o desempenho de partidos radicais de ambos espectros políticos. Com o uso de dados em painel, encontramos evidências de que o desemprego constitui a principal variável econômica a afetar o sentimento anti-establishment da população no curto prazo, enquanto a modernização da economia o faz no longo prazo. Além disso, nossos dados mostram que o aumento do sentimento anti-establishment favorece mais os PREs do que os PRDs. Concluímos, assim, que a Grande Recessão trouxe consequências não só econômicas, mas, também, políticas para as democracias europeias, que terão que se adaptar ao novo status alcançado pelos partidos radicais. / This work aims at analyzing the existing relation between the economic deterioration and the ascension of radical right (RR) and left (RL) parties in the period 2003 to 2016 in Europe. We test the hypothesis that the economic situation not only has generated an anti-establishment sentiment in the population of European countries, but also reinforced previous resentments, caused by changes in the productive structure and ethnic composition since the 80s, as a result of the deepening of the productive globalization. We study 94 national legislative elections from 26 Western and Eastern European countries, which enables us to observe the relation between socioeconomic indicators, variations in the anti-establishment and the performance of radical parties from both ends of the political spectrum. Through the use of panel data, we find evidences that the unemployment constitutes the main economic variable affecting the anti-establishment sentiment of the population in the short-term, whereas the modernization of the economy does it in the long-term. Besides, our data show that the increase in the anti-establishment sentiment favors more the RLPs than it does the RRPs. Therefore, we conclude that the Great Recession has brought about not only economic but also political consequences to the European democracies, which will have to adapt to the new status achieved by the radical parties.

The autumn 2015 represented a critical juncture for Swedish migration politics. Prime Minister Löfven’s government tightened immigration policies in accordance with proposals made since long by the radical right wing party the Sweden Democrats (SD). But did the critical juncture and the following migration policies involve new political strategies against SD, and how have the mainstream parties’ leaders’ perspective on immigration been affected? The analysis is based on systemic functional grammar and scholarly literature concerning perspectives on immigration. Policy proposals, party leaders’ perspectives on immigration and party leaders’ positioning in immigration-related television debates from 2014 and 2017 are compared. The results confirm previous research showing that there was a strong convergence amongst mainstream parties 2014, in migration politics as well as in positioning against SD. In 2017, the migration issue has split up into more detailed issues like family reunification, temporary residence permits and differentiated welfare. The utility perspective on immigration was salient in 2014. In 2017, two new central perspectives on immigration were constructed: the strain perspective and the reversed rights perspective. The study suggests that immigration-related issues has gone from being a forum for distance making between mainstream parties and SD, to be like any other issue – a forum for the usual political dynamics between governing parties and opposition.

This essay examines the recent electoral success of the Sweden Democrats (SD) in the Swedish municipal election in 2006 and 2010. By using statistical methods it aims to explain which of three contradicting theoretical frameworks best can explain how a populist radical right party could penetrate one of the most stable party systems in the world. The theoretical approaches tested in this essay are: a demand-side, an external supply-side and an internal supply-side approach. By using theoretically anchored proxies to determine the effect of the contradicting theoretical approaches this essay concludes that the internal supply-side explanation measuring the local party organizational ability of the SD had the most substantial effect when it comes to explaining their recent electoral success in the Swedish municipalities, as opposed to a more commonly believed demand-side driven explanation.

Many studies have focused on whether or not different kinds of strategies used towards radical right parties give them more or less electoral support and power. This study, however, sets out to center the MP’s subjective views on how the strategies and different approaches are being used and experienced in parliamentary committees in the Swedish Riksdag. The purpose of the study is to gain new and more detailed information of the motivations used for the strategies from the MPs subjective views of the Swedish Democrats (SD). The different types of strategies studied are excluding strategies such as ignore, cordon sanitaire, demonise and defuse. The including strategies which are examined are adapt and collaborate. Vote technical disidentification is a theoretical contribution to strategies being used from this study and shows how MPs blame other parties for voting more on SD than their own. Semi- structured interviews with MPs from five parties, including SD, in three different parliamentary committees with a total number of 15 participants, which are used as the material. The result of the study suggests that there are some differences in the approaches of the different MPs, and the difference lies mostly in between and within parties and not so much among the different committees. The MPs have some differences in their subjective conception of the SD where some have a tough approach against them while others have a softer understanding to them socially but none except for one MP want formal collaboration with them. In broad terms, the political right has some tendencies to use inclusion strategies and the political left uses the exclusion strategies more broadly and not the inclusion at all, according to the result. Informal approaches to take distance from SD, used more by the political left. The perception of the strategies and approaches being used differs a lot from between the MPs from SD and the rest of the MPs in the study. A more hard, unfair and undemocratic is the perceptions of the MPs from SD of the strategy and approaches while the others do not see them as commonly used.

This thesis examines and explains how the three Scandinavian populist radical right parties, the Sweden Democrats, the Danish People’s Party and the Progress Party approaches the climate issue in their latest manifesto, and how it has changed over a period of ten years. By means of a content analysis and categorisations of climate scepticism, climate omission and climate measures, this thesis finds explicit evidence of climate scepticism in the Progress Party whereas there is no such evidence for the Sweden Democrats and the Danish People’s Party completely omits the issue. On the other hand, there is evidence of measures to fight climate change in the Progress Party, and the same goes for the Sweden Democrats. However, the only relevant difference when comparing the manifestos over a ten-year period is a decreased usage of statement connected to both climate scepticism and climate action in the Progress Party’s manifestos.

Dans la plupart des pays, les hommes sont plus enclins que les femmes à voter pour des partis d’extrême droite. Ce mémoire contribue à notre compréhension de ce gender gap en analysant le vote pour l’extrême droite lors des dernières élections européennes dans 22 pays, en utilisant les données l’European Election Voter Study (2019). Dans un premier temps, nous adoptons une approche exploratoire en analysant dans quelle mesure les indicateurs socio-économiques et les positions idéologiques contribuent à expliquer cet écart. Nous nous concentrons ensuite sur les facteurs contextuels en testant deux explications tirées de la littérature. En nous appuyant sur une collecte de données originale, nous cherchons d'abord à évaluer si une plus grande représentation des femmes parmi les élus d’extrême droite entraine davantage de femmes à voter pour ces partis. Nous cherchons ensuite à vérifier si les femmes sont plus portées à voter pour des partis d’extrême droite moins extrême, en utilisant les données du Chapel Hill Expert Survey (2019). Les résultats montrent que 38% du gender gap dans le vote d'extrême droite est expliqué par les différences entre les positions des hommes et des femmes dans l’opinion publique, tandis que les indicateurs socio-économiques ont une contribution négligeable. Nous montrons également que l'effet positif du positionnement idéologique sur l'échelle gauche-droite sur le vote d’extrême droite est plus faible pour les femmes. De plus, le fait d'être en faveur de l'intervention de l'État dans l'économie motive le vote d’extrême droite uniquement chez les femmes. Sur le plan contextuel, nous montrons que plus la position des partis d’extrême droite est extrême en ce qui concerne l'intervention de l'État dans l'économie, plus le gender gap augmente. / In most countries, men are more likely to vote for radical right parties than women. This thesis contributes to our understanding of this – yet to be explained – gender gap. For doing so, I look at the radical right votes in the last European elections in 22 countries, using data from the European Election Voter Study (2019). In a first step, I take an exploratory approach and systematically analyze whether and to what extent socio-economic indicators and issue positions contribute to this gender gap. I then focus on contextual factors by testing two explanations drawn from the literature. Relying on original data, I first assess whether a greater representation of women among radical right elected officials motivates more women to vote for these parties. I then test whether women are more drawn to less extreme radical right parties, using data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (2019). The results suggest that 38% of the gender gap in voting for radical right parties is explained by differences in men’s and women’s issue positions while the contribution of socio-economic indicators is negligible. I also show that the positive effect of ideological placement on the left-right scale on radical right voting is weaker for women. Furthermore, being in favour of state intervention in the economy motivates radical right voting only for women. On the contextual level, I find that the more extreme the stance of radical right parties is regarding state intervention in the economy, the greater the gap becomes.

The term 'populist radical right parties' often occurs in media, among experts or as a frequently discussed topic. The topic related to a rise of such of political parties in Europe is parallelly linked to the context of growing number of immigrants. The aim of this work is to clarify reasons of the origin and long-term success of two populist radical right parties. The work analyzes and consequently compares the existence of the Swedish Democrats and the Norwegian Progress Party. Even though Sweden and Norway share several historical and cultural features, situation around selected political parties is apparently different. Norway's Progress Party succeeded in an election of 1973 already. Nowadays it can be listed among Norwegian strongest political parties. On the other hand, the populist radical right party, Swedish Democrats, entered the political scene in 2002 only. The starting point of the time research frame for this thesis is defined as the breakthrough of the Progress Party in 1973 with Anders Lange in lead. The core of the thesis is based on the concept of supply and demand according to which independent variables are categorized. The main purpose of the work is to determine the key factor, which leads to the success of selected political parties and analyze their development.

The National Party was active in the Czech politics roughly from 2000 to 2009.Despite the fact that the party had great political ambitions, it did not make any major electoral gains. The National Party is described in detail in chapters devoted to the formation of the National Party, its political agenda, ideological classification, to individuals and organizations participating in the establishment of the National Party, its political marketing, and the results of the National Party in the elections and international cooperation. The thesis addresses the following research questions: Why was the party unsuccessful? Concerning political marketing, were the selected communication channels adequate and was the way the party communicated correct? and Is there demand for a similar party in the Czech Republic at the moment?. We will answer the questions raised by applying a theoretical framework based on Cas Mudde's publication Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe and Alina Polyakova's study Explaining Support for Radical Right Parties in New Democracies: The Limits of Structural Determinants and the Potentiality of Civil Society, and also by conducting a survey which will research citizens' stands on various political issues.

Under urban neoliberal policies, housing has become a vehicle for wealth accumulation, detached from its social function, leading to a shortage of adequate and affordable housing. The lack of adequate housing is perceived as an issue of availability. This prevailing perspective dismisses the systematic character of the housing issue and fails to take into account greater questions about power, inequality, and justice in capitalist societies. The purpose of this case study of Malmö is to problematize the access to housing for marginalized groups in the broader frame of the political and economic structures of Sweden’s housing market. The research adopts a qualitative case study design based on 22 semi-structured interviews. The findings answer the research question how is access to the housing market in Malmö limited for marginalized groups? and will be placed within the framework of The Radical Right to Housing and the context of Sweden’s political-economy. Based on the results this research argues that despite limited accessibility mostly shows in economic disadvantage for the marginalized groups, it is caused by Sweden’s social, political and economic structures. Highlighting that housing is a political-economic problem, deeply embedded within class structures, gender, age, ethnicity and other power dimensions. In the broader context of demanding a radical right to housing, the results show that it requires a transformation of Sweden’s political-economic structures. Regarding a decommodification of housing, a transformation of capitalism and transformative changes in state action concerning immigration, education, and active gender equality policies. Thereby, housing could serve as a tool to create more equality in cities by addressing and fighting the structures of class society, gender, age, ethnicity and other power dimensions.