The purpose of this thesis is to describe the hard euroscepticism in two Swedish parties: The Swedish democrats and the Left party, by describing and comparing their arguments. I will mainly do this by examining if they have traditional features in their arguments and if they have an alternative system to the EU. I’m using a study by Van Bohemen et al and the Benchmark theory by De Vries to analyze the results. The arguments are found in their official party documents. By describing, comparing and analyzing the arguments I’ve found that both parties arguments have anti-institutional and protectionist features. The Left party also argues against economic inequality and the Swedish democrats arguments have ethnocentric features. Besides the traditional ‘arguments’ The Left party also argue that the union is unequal, neoliberal and disregarding the climate changes. Both parties also have an alternative system to the EU. The Left party wants to replace it with international organizations which works against for instance inequality and climate changes. The Swedish democrats wants a deepened Nordic collaboration, which would help the economy as well as protect the Nordic identity. My conclusion is that both parties have traditional Eurosceptic features and an alternative system. There are some similarities as well as differences in their arguments and the differences are mainly ideological.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe the hard euroscepticism in two Swedish parties: The Swedish democrats and the Left party, by describing and comparing their arguments. I will mainly do this by examining if they have traditional features in their arguments and if they have an alternative system to the EU. I’m using a study by Van Bohemen et al and the Benchmark theory by De Vries to analyze the results. The arguments are found in their official party documents. By describing, comparing and analyzing the arguments I’ve found that both parties arguments have anti-institutional and protectionist features. The Left party also argues against economic inequality and the Swedish democrats arguments have ethnocentric features. Besides the traditional ‘arguments’ The Left party also argue that the union is unequal, neoliberal and disregarding the climate changes. Both parties also have an alternative system to the EU. The Left party wants to replace it with international organizations which works against for instance inequality and climate changes. The Swedish democrats wants a deepened Nordic collaboration, which would help the economy as well as protect the Nordic identity. My conclusion is that both parties have traditional Eurosceptic features and an alternative system. There are some similarities as well as differences in their arguments and the differences are mainly ideological.

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The purpose with this essay is to examine the Liberal Party and the Left Party´s views on homework, if the parties considers that homework affects the schools plan for equivalence and if the parties disagreement can be related to their different ideologies. To answer the purpose I have used following questions: How do the Liberal Party and the Left Party define the concept of homework?, What is the purpose of homework in primary schools according to the Liberal Party and the Left Party?, What are the arguments for and against homework and do homework affects the schools plan for equivalence according to the parties? and Can the parties' views on homework be related to their respective ideologies? The method used is a qualitative textual analysis with focus on the idea analysis. The material consist of relevant newspaper articles, news and debate clips and the parties various party programs, during the time frame of 2006-05-31 - 2013-10-14. To answer the purpose I also used different types of discourse theories, equivalence theory and the ideologies liberalism and reformist socialism as theories. The results shows that the Liberal Party and the Left Party have different views about what a homework should be considered as and that both parties thinks that homework can affect the schools plan for equivalence, but they have different perceptions about how. The Left Party believes that homework should be done during school time and The Liberal Party believes that homework should be done after school. Their different views and values regarding homework can also be relate to their different ideologies. A possible idea that I also can find from the results is that the parties different opinions can be based on that they refers to pupils of different age groups when they discuss the topic of homework.

This thesis deals with the German political party "Die Linke" (The Left). Die Linke was founded in 2007 by merging two different parties, namely Linkspartei.PDS, which was preceded by the ruling party of the GDR, and WASG, composed of West German activists and former party members of the Social Democratic Party. The opening parts contain definitions of basic terminology and a brief history of parties preceding Die Linke. The following sections deal with how the dual history of the party reflects in its organisation, its program and electorate. The party programs are also used to analyze its key program points and their evolution over time. The party's ideology is also examined. This thesis also deals with the current position of Die Linke within the German party system, in terms of both the voters and election results, and relations with other relevant parties.

This thesis aims to examine the existence of populism in Swedish party politics, specifically inthe cases of The Sweden democrats on the right and The Left party on the left side. Two partiesthat can be considered each other's opposites in Sweden. The research questions revolve aroundif both parties can be considered to populist, if there are any differences in the type of populismthat the parties express and finally if there have been any changes of populism within the partiesin recent years. The definition of populism that is applied is created by Mudde & Kaltwassser (2017) and seespopulism as a thin-centered ideology with “the pure people” versus “the corrupt elite,” andargues that politics should be an expression of the will of the people. The thesis also usespopulist subtypes from Jagers & Walgrave (2007) to discern different types of populism. The methods used consist of a comparative research design and a qualitative content analysis toexamine the questions of the thesis, based on speeches made by the parties in Almedalen. Theresult shows that both parties can be considered to be populists, but there are differences betweenthe parties based on subtypes and in who they see as the people or the elite. There have not beenany considerable changes in the expressed populism in any of the parties.

The aim of this essay is to show if and how group identities are being constructed in maindocuments from three political parties in the Swedish parliament, focusing on class, genderand ethnic identities. The three parties who’s documents are being analyzed are theModerate Party, the Sweden Democrats and the Left Party. The conclusion of the essay isthat the Moderate Party is so focused on the individual that they are not promoting groupidentity based on class, gender or ethnicity. The Sweden Democrats are mostly discussing,and therefore creating a discourse of, cultural identity, where Swedish, Nordic, Europeanand Western culture are being created as the ‘us’, and others are being created as ‘them’.They are also promoting difference between men and women, therefore dividing the sexesin groups. The Left Party are focused on class, and are dividing people in working class (themajority) and the elite (the minority). They are also creating a ‘us’ and ‘them’ whilediscussing the patriarchy, a system in which the man is superior and the woman is inferior.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine how the Swedish parliamentary left viewed Brexit and its expected consequences. The standpoints concerning Brexit that were presented by the Social Democrats (S; SAP), the Left Party (V) and the Greens (MP) during the foreign policy debates of 2016 and 2017, and during eight of the consultations with the Committee on EU Affairs, from December 2015 to September 2016, are analysed. The actions of the three parties are explained with the help of the concepts politicization, programme realization, vote maximization and maximization of parliamentary influence. The standpoints are categorized using a qualitative text analysis. The conclusion is that the Social Democrats and the Greens had a negative attitude towards the United Kingdom leaving the EU, and they argued that the result of the referendum was a matter of regret. According to the Social Democrats and the Greens, Brexit meant that the EU had to start fulfilling the wishes of the citizens; otherwise the legitimacy of the union would be damaged even further. The Left Party neither approved nor disapproved of Brexit, but it did consider the event a historic opportunity to reform the EU. The analysis of the standpoints showed that Brexit couldn’t be classified as a politicized (contentious) question for the Swedish left. The actions of the Social Democrats are seen as an attempt to achieve all the strategic goals: programme realization, vote maximization and maximization of parliamentary influence. The Left Party prioritized vote maximization over the other goals, while the Greens prioritized maximization of parliamentary influence at the expense of programme realization.

Studies of why political parties in Sweden motivated their change of statements and policies during the refugee crisis in 2015 have been limited. I argue that it is relevant to question Swe- den’s traditional image as an open and generous country towards refugees. A change of policies took place within the traditional refugee friendly political parties in Sweden. Therefore, this thesis helps explain context for changes in the policies of the Green and Left parties during the refugee crisis 2015 in Sweden. It outlines the different policy outcomes between the Green and the Left parties and explains why two parties with initially similar positions concerning refugee issues became so markedly divided in a time of crisis. In this study, both quantitative and qual- itative methods involving content analysis and semi-structured interview techniques have been used in order to examine to what extent a change of reasoning led to different policy outcomes for the Left and Green parties. Interviews were used to gain deeper knowledge about each party’s approach towards refugees during Fall of 2015. Studies on Swedish refugee policies during the refugee crisis 2015 have either focused on 1) how refugees have been framed in news media and by politicians and 2) the socio-economic effects refugees have on Sweden because of badly managed integration policies. Less focus has been placed on how social economic reconstruction (proactive planning that allows groups from below to organize their resources) can become a powerful tool for political parties to provide solution-oriented refugee policies. Considering this unexplored area, this study analyses the Green and Left Parties’ refugee policies and how they developed during the refugee crisis by 2015. The research questions therefore relate to the change of policies of the Green and Left parties related to concepts such as solidarity and compassion for refugees and the need for greater restrictions on the number of refugees coming to Sweden through scarcity reduction and shifting budgets. The conclusion is that during the crisis, the concept of solidarity towards refugees was being tested and the debate mainly focused on quick solutions to the current crisis by restricting the number of asylum seekers through stricter laws. In contrast, policy discourse did not engage investments in solution-oriented policies with long run benefits, e.g. improving the efficiency of labor market policies to facilitate new arrivals’ labor market entry and social inclusion.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the phenomenon of populism in Sweden among the Sweden Democrats and the Left Party, as well as their youth unions young Swedes and young left. The study applies the tool VDP analysis in which it is used as an instrument on the parties and their youth unions to identify ideas that mainly constitute their policy. To define populism, one uses Cas Mudde's definition as well as the four subtypes of populism: Complete populism, Exclucionary populism, Anti-elitist populism and Empty populism. The criteria for the different subtypes are tested with the help of the information from the VDP analyzes in order to apply a subtype and to identify differences between moderators and youth associations. The study shows that the Sweden Democrats' survey criteria for complete populism are similar to their youth union. The Left Party and the Young Left result is in criteria for anti-elitist populism. The study also shows that parties and youth unions do not differ in populist subtypes, but youth unions tend to stand out more in their policies compared to their parent parties. / Studies syfte är att undersöka fenomenet populism i Sverige hos Sverigedemokraterna och Vänsterpartiet, samt deras ungdomsförbund Ungsvenskarna och Ung Vänster. Studien tillämpar verktyget VDP-analys som används som ett instrument på partierna och deras ungdomsförbund för att identifiera de idéer som huvudsakligen utgör deras politik. För att definiera populism använder sig studien av Cas Muddes definition samt de fyra subtyperna tunn-centrerad populism, anti-elitistisk populism, exkluderande populism och fullständig populism. Kriterierna för de olika subtyperna prövas med hjälp av informationen från VDP-analyserna för att dels applicera en subtyp, dels för att identifiera skillnader mellan moderparti och ungdomsförbund. Studien visar att Sverigedemokraterna uppfyller kriterierna för fullständig populism likt deras ungdomsförbund. Vänsterpartiet och Ung Vänster uppfyller kriterierna för anti-elitistisk populism. Studien visar också att partierna och ungdomsförbunden inte skiljer sig i populistisk subtyp men ungdomsförbunden tenderar att sticka ut mer i sin politik jämfört med deras moderpartier.