<p>University of Växjö</p><p>School of Social Sciences</p><p>Bachelor Thesis in Political Science</p><p>Title: “Sverigedemokraternas valframgångar 2006 – En ulv i fårakläder?”</p><p>Author: Emma Haraldsson and Åsa Neuschütz</p><p>Tutor: Emil Uddhammar</p><p>The aim of this study is to explain Sverigedemokraterna’s electoral success in 2006 and the essay assumes that some form of change has occurred. To study this change two hypotheses have been constructed. The first hypothesis concerns the change within Sverigedemokraterna and the second hypothesis concerns the change of the Swedish voters attitudes.</p><p>Kirchheimers catch-all theory is used to explain the change in Sverigedemokraterna. The catch-all theory states that parties have to change their structure to maximise the number of votes. Lipset and Rokkan’s theory about the party system is also used along with Inglehart’s value studies to explain why parties change.</p><p>The tests of the hypotheses are carried out through a text analysis and a statistical survey. The essay concludes that Sverigedemokraterna has not changed very much and that it is mainly an esthetical and not an ideological change. Therefore the first hypothesis has to be falsified. The second hypothesis can be neither falsified nor verified, because the material is too diverse. Further studies are necessary to explain the electoral success of Sverigedemokraterna.</p>

University of Växjö School of Social Sciences Bachelor Thesis in Political Science Title: “Sverigedemokraternas valframgångar 2006 – En ulv i fårakläder?” Author: Emma Haraldsson and Åsa Neuschütz Tutor: Emil Uddhammar The aim of this study is to explain Sverigedemokraterna’s electoral success in 2006 and the essay assumes that some form of change has occurred. To study this change two hypotheses have been constructed. The first hypothesis concerns the change within Sverigedemokraterna and the second hypothesis concerns the change of the Swedish voters attitudes. Kirchheimers catch-all theory is used to explain the change in Sverigedemokraterna. The catch-all theory states that parties have to change their structure to maximise the number of votes. Lipset and Rokkan’s theory about the party system is also used along with Inglehart’s value studies to explain why parties change. The tests of the hypotheses are carried out through a text analysis and a statistical survey. The essay concludes that Sverigedemokraterna has not changed very much and that it is mainly an esthetical and not an ideological change. Therefore the first hypothesis has to be falsified. The second hypothesis can be neither falsified nor verified, because the material is too diverse. Further studies are necessary to explain the electoral success of Sverigedemokraterna.