Why are social democratic parties losing voters to right-wing populist parties? For decades, social democratic parties across Europe have been in decline. Much of this decline can be attributed to voters leaving in favor of right-wing populist parties. Despite extensive research on the growing support for these parties, researchers are yet to agree on even the most fundamental causes. In Sweden this phenomenon is seen in the voter flow from the Social Democrats to the Sweden Democrats. In this study, Sheri Berman's theory of social democratic success factors is used to explain the decline of the Social Democrats in favor of the Sweden Democrats, by conducting interviews with Sweden Democrat politicians who used to be Social Democrats. Results suggest that respondents' decisions to leave the Social Democrats were preceded by prolonged disappointment with the Social Democrats' political direction. According to respondents, the Social Democrats have lost focus on social unity within the Swedish population, down-prioritized social democratic politics and ideology in favor of political power and become an elite party lacking representatives that workers can identify with. Interestingly, respondents' decisions to leave the Social Democrats are not attributed to any essential shift in their personal values, but to the social democratic party abandoning social democracy. Migration, while mentioned by some respondents, is tied to welfare and economic politics as well as a lost sense of community. While social democracy used to be the only ideology combining communitarianism, the primacy of politics and democratic ideals, results indicate that these earlier social democratic traits now constitute success factors for today's right-wing populist parties.

This thesis investigates the potential relationship between support for radical right-wing parties and the increased employment rates of women in member states of the European Union. While previous research has predominantly focused on immigration, by virtue of grievances, as a driver of radical right-wing support, this study explores whether increases in the employment ratio of women can also be perceived as a threat and contribute to this support. The rationale for examining this assumption is rooted in the understanding of radical right-wing parties as Männerparteien, being primarily supported and led by men. By analyzing time-series cross-sectional data from thirteen EU member states over twenty time periods, this study reveals a positive correlation between the employment rates of women and support for radical right-wing parties. This finding aligns with the concept of group threat theory, suggesting that increases in the employment ratio of women can indeed be perceived as a threat. The finding highlights the complex dynamics and potential resistance that arise when traditional power dynamics are challenged, emphasizing the need for comprehensive approaches to address these barriers and promote gender equality. The study also reveals a positive correlation between support for radical right-wing parties and the attainment of advanced education for men, as well as a negative correlation between radical right-wing support and increased GDP. The findings offer valuable insights to previous research and lay the groundwork for future studies in various research fields by yielding further insights into the group dynamics between men and women and by proposing the use of additional explanatory variables in explaining radical right-wing support.

A study on far-right populism voters and democratic attitudes in five countries, France, Hungary, India, Russia and Sweden. The purpose of the study is to create a deeper understanding on the far-right populist voters view on a selection of democratic values. It is a quantitative study using datafrom International social survey program (2016). The focus is on the voters of these political parties.We conducted an exposé of the right-wing populism, using the theory of Cas Mudde and others, and of the far-right populist voter. Presentations were also carried out on every country´s far-right populism background. Democratic values were operationalized in different indicators, freedom of assembly, limitations of civil rights, limitations of public information, corruption and trust for MP: sand civil servants. The study did not result in a clear correlation between far-right populism voters and non-democratic values. However, we did find some correlations and the strongest effects were in France, Hungary and Russia. The patterns we found were on limitations of civil rights and the result showed that far-right populist voters tend to have a more non-democratic view on these issues.

The stand of liberal democracy as the most desirable form of governance has long been left unquestioned in the West. The rise of geopolitical, and national, security issues force the population in these states to consider the trade off between security and democracy. Research on which demographic factors affect populations’ attitudes towards limiting their democratic rights for the sake of security is scarce. The few studies of the Swedish population's relationship to their democracy that do exist, do not problematize the found relationship between gender and the will to limit democracy in cases of crises.  This thesis tests what effects Swedes’ will to limit democracy for the sake of national security against two hypotheses. Right Wing Authoritarianism is used as the explanatory framework as to why women are more positive towards democracy limiting security measures than men. Utilising multiple regression analysis, the findings indicate that women to a larger extent than men are more positive towards democracy limiting security measures when controlling for other demographic factors and time. Therefore, this study concludes that gender-based structures in society affect womens’ relationship with the trade-off between security and democracy.

The 2015 European Immigration Crisis brought an unprecedented number of immigrants to parts of Western Europe as millions of people fled war-torn and politically unstable countries. Similar to the increase in immigrants, Western European countries have also been combatting the rise of terror attacks throughout Europe. The increase in immigration coupled with an increase in terror attacks has caused anti-refugee sentiments among some Europeans and demands for stricter immigration policies. This paper examines how terrorism has impacted refugee and immigrant populations throughout Western Europe with a focus on Germany, France, and Belgium following the 2015 European Immigration Crisis. In order to determine the effects, the analysis focuses on recent terror attacks in the three nations. The claim that refugees are responsible for the increase in terror attacks is examined along with the impact of foreign terrorist fighters in each nation. Following this, the responses from right-wing groups are discussed. This includes the rise of right-wing political leaders, the organization of right-wing movements, and right-wing terror attacks. The resulting policy implications regarding both terrorism policies and immigration policies are also discussed. From these three areas of impact, the overall effects of the European Immigration Crisis are better understood.

This study investigates the relationship between the current migration crisis in Europe and the escalation of far-right voting which has been witnessed since it's beginning. In order to do so this study utilized correlation experiments and detailed case studies to explore the relationship between legislative vote shares and asylum applications for the years 2009-2017 in the EU member states of Hungary, Germany, France, Greece and the UK. Control variables of GDP, unemployment and terrorist attacks have also been utilized to measure alternative causes of far-right voting. Results of these experiments vary quite a bit from state to state - finding differing potential causal factors in each case study. Germany, France and the UK show results which indicate that an increase in asylum applications potentially influence far-right voting habits. Greece does not show this type of result, but does show correlation with control variables. Hungarian experiments however do not produce correlation with any variables tested, but has the strongest presence of far-right activity which may indicate that Hungarian far-right success is attributed to their long history of far-right activity.

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The ongoing war in Ukraine and Gaza have sparked international discussion on how to manage the situation but also on which side one should stand in these conflicts. One axis ofsupport these discussions occur are along ideological lines. What this paper aims to achieve is to understand where the left- and right-wing stand in these conflicts and what kind of reasonings that they put forwards to justify their support. In order to come to a conclusion this paper will use a text analysis method on different ideologically charged text in form of debate articles, policy documents and other public statements from four Swedish parties, two on the left and two on the right. This method will be a qualitative idea analysis that will focuson different statements from these texts that will then be analyzed and interpreted throughan IR constructivist lens. What could be concluded from this paper was a clear result that all four parties were on the side of Ukraine but differed on the Israel-Palestine with the right-wing leaning more to Israel and the left-wing leaning towards Palestine. This because two of the parties were more in the center of the ideological divide while two of them were on clear opposite sides with the more socialist party siding with Palestine due to principal and historical support while the more conservative party sided with Israel due to clear outspoken support and ideological similarities with the ruling party of Israel.

This essay studies the migration crisis’ effect on the sympathy of the Sweden Democrats party. With a focus on the time period between 2010 to 2023, it aims to show if the 2015 migration crisis had any effect on the sympathy amount of the Sweden Democrats, while also analyzing the difference in effect depending on gender, age and education level. The study also aims to show if there has been a post-migration crisis effect in the years after the crisis. The method was a statistical analysis, using statistics from Statistics Sweden from the years between 2010 and 2023. Previous research has shown that a large amount of migration has an effect on voting behavior, creating a shift towards the right. However, this study suggests that the migration crisis cannot be used as an explanation for the increased sympathies of the Sweden Democrats, although the results show that there has been a post-migration crisis effect. The results also disclose that age, gender and a post-secondary education have a significant effect on sympathies for the party. Young people are less likely to sympathize with the Sweden Democrats, while men are much more likely to sympathize with the party compared to women. Individuals who hold a post-secondary education are less likely to sympathize with the party compared to those who hold a pre-secondary education.