Under den senaste tiden har det debatterats kring att Socialdemokraterna har kommit närmare högerpartierna i Sverige. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad Socialdemokraterna har för ideologi idag och om partiets ideologi har förändrats under 2000-talet. Genom att tillämpa en beskrivande idéanalys av Socialdemokraternas valmanifest och partiprogram under 2000-talet, undersöks vilka socialistiska, liberala och konservativa drag det går att se hos Socialdemokraterna idag. Analysen av Socialdemokraternas ideologi utgår ifrån valda kategorier och grundar sig i teoretiska ramverk, som består av de klassiska ideologierna socialism, liberalism och konservatism. Studiens slutsats är att det går att se stora socialistiska drag hos Socialdemokraterna idag, men även vissa liberala och konservativa drag. Undersökningen visar även att Socialdemokraternas ideologi inte har förändrats under 2000-talet.

Europa står i dag inför stora demografiska förändringar med en allt äldre befolkning och minskade födelsetal. Tidigare forskning visar att förändrade levnadsförhållanden samt ekonomisk tillväxt har varit en bidragande orsak till att befolkningsstrukturen har förändrats. Eftersom det främst är politiker som fattar beslut angående åtgärder, fann vi det intressant att studera hur politikerna väljer att bemöta de demografiska förändringarna samt undersöka om det finns distinkta skillnader i politiken utifrån Esping-Andersens kategorisering av välfärdsstater. Syftet med denna undersökning var att finna om politikerna i Sverige och Spanien bemöter de demografiska förändringarna på olika sätt eftersom länderna tillhör olika välfärdsstater. Resultatet visade att några av de förslag som presenterades var utökad barnomsorg, bättre villkor för föräldrar att kombinera arbete och familjeliv, ökad pension samt förbättrad äldrevård. Esping-Andersens kategorisering av välfärdsstater gick att härleda utifrån valmanifesten, däremot var det svårare att upptäcka huruvida politikernas förslag på åtgärder hade karaktär av en skandinavisk respektive konservativ välfärdsmodell.

The purpose of this essay is to find out if Alliansen has lost their Bourgeoisie collective identity. The comprehensive questions of this essay are: Does liberalism or conservatism dominate the manifesto of Alliansen from 2006-2010 compared to the manifesto 2014-2018? Have Alliansen changed their ideological views to the centre of the political spectrum in their manifesto from 2006-2010 compared to the manifesto 2014-2018?   The method used in this essay is a qualitative dimensional study. The results of the essay show that conservatism dominates both manifestos of Alliansen and show that the ideological view of Alliansen has not changed. Alliansens view of human beings in their manifesto from 2006-2010 is pessimistic and so is Alliansens manifesto from 2014-2018 and therefore closer to the conservative ideology than the ideology of liberalism. Alliansens view of society is collectivistic in both the manifesto 2006-2010 and the manifesto 2014-2018 and therefore also closer to the conservative ideology than the ideology of liberalism.

This study examines the introductory texts in the 2018 election manifestos of the eight political parties represented in the Swedish parliament, with the aim of comparing the different views of Swedish society expressed in the texts. The idea that the public political debate in Sweden in recent years have been focused on individual issues rather than ideology forms a starting point for the study. The analysis is based on the term model voter, which is a way of adapting the notion of the so-called model reader to fit this specific study. Critical discourse analysis is used as a theoretical framework, and is discussed in relation to political ideologies and presupposed information in texts. The analysis takes a qualitative approach, in identifying how prominent key words, visual elements and rhetoric patterns are used to persuade the model voter of the party’s message. The model voter is viewed as a representation of each party’s ideology and values, and the different views on Swedish society are described through the eyes of the model voter. The results show that the model voter appears in the texts with a varying degree of clarity, and that they all have characteristics in common as well as characteristics that set them apart. The study concludes that all the model voters see some kind of threat to the development of the Swedish society, but the origin of these threats vary depending on the political party in question. The different natures of these threats are closely connected to the ideology of each party. The study also discusses its results related to the tendency of some election platforms to exclude certain groups of voters in their texts, based on the values and opinions that the model voter is presumed to share with its political party.

Sverige är ett demokratiskt samhälle där medborgarna i allmänna val röstar fram de politiska partier som de vill bli företrädda av i riksdagen. Som medborgare och landets invånare är det av stor vikt att vara medveten om vilka strategier som används i politikernas språkbruk i kampen om makt under valkampanjen. Denna uppsats syftar till att studera språklig realisering av vallöftens sannolikhet och ansvarsfördelning med utgångspunkt i kritisk diskursanalys och systemisk-funktionell grammatik (SFG). Materialet för studien består av Sveriges tre största riksdagspartiers valmanifest från 2022. Analysen görs i kritisk belysning med hänsyn till den maktposition partierna har i förhållande till valmanifestens mottagare, dvs. väljarna. Undersökningens övergripande frågeställningar besvaras genom tre olika delanalyser, vilket medför att analysmaterialet granskas ur olika språkvetenskapliga perspektiv. I studien ingår en nyckelordsanalys, en transitivitetsanalys och en modalitetsanalys. Utifrån studiens resultat går det att konstatera att varje parti har sitt eget sätt att språkligt formulera sina vallöften som presenteras i valmanifesten. I det analyserade språkbruket återfinns också olika strategier för att undvika ansvar för det som utlovas, något som oftast är en följd av ett stort antal passivsatser och agentstrykningar, vilket i sin tur anses typiskt för myndighetsdiskurs. Dessutom synliggör resultatet att Sverigedemokraterna är det parti som förefaller vara minst ansvarstagande och därmed kan deras vallöften uppfattas som mer osannolika. Samtidigt påpekas att partiets konkurrensposition i valet kan påverka språkbruket och formuleringen av valprogrammet.

Title: "Public safety – The main freedom question of our time? A discourse analysis of the Swedish Moderate Party’s election manifesto 2022" The present study aims to explore the Moderate Party’s (Moderaterna) construction of public safety (trygghet) during the Swedish election campaign 2022. Mainly, the topic of choice is motivated by an interest in how a political party, whose election results were successful, navigated the mediatized politics and approached policy issues particularly important to the voters. The study's specific focus on trygghet is in view of the fact that the word is closely knit to political domains like “law and order”, which to a high extent dominated the political debate during the Swedish election 2022. The purpose of this study was achieved by examining Moderaternas election manifesto for 2022, as it holds the party’s collected ideological viewpoints and simultaneously serves as a primary outlet for media coverage on the political subjects of concern. Particularly we found it interesting to examine how the meaning of trygghet is established in response to insecurity (otrygghet) as its negative counterpart, and how Moderaternas description of the Swedish political and societal conditions in relation to trygghet contributes to shape peoples’ perceptions of their social environment. After initially identifying the political contexts in which trygghet is constructed as especially necessary in the manifesto, the theoretical and methodological framework allowed us to further examine how Moderaterna shapes the idea of trygghet, occasionally even beyond what may be considered the traditional understanding of the word. This study points out how Moderaterna largely motivates societies need for trygghet by pointing out an alleged increased crime rate in Sweden, as well as how the actors which are constructed as threatening to the public safety is consequently constructed as external from the community that is argued for. We claim that Moderaterna implicitly presents the desired community as constituted by a specific set of values, to a high degree associated with their ‘orderly’ politics. The construction of community in opposition to threaths is somewhat problematized, as we highlight how the reproduction of discourses with polarizing characteristics could potentially have adverse implications on societal level. Throughout the analysis, each theme is approached with a methodological perspective which allows us to see how Moderaternas legitimization of their politics in response to the increased need for trygghet, can be seen as a mode of exerting power.

The European Parliament elections have for decades been described as 'second-order national elections', meaning that parties tend to have a national focus rather than a European one. Furthermore, the parties are often described as a weak link between the European Union and its citizens. Studies on the parties' election promises have mainly been done on national elections and show that election promises become increasingly important over time. However, no previous studies have looked at election promises in European elections. The purpose of this comparative case study is to compare the election promises that Swedish parliamentary parties present in their election manifestos for the European Parliament elections of 2014 and 2019, in order to contribute to both the discourse on European Parliament elections and the discourse on election promises. Two established fields of research that have not previously met in this way. Based on previous research, this study tests eight hypotheses on the material. By mapping and analyzing 1374 election promises from 16 election manifestos, the result shows a predominant share of election promises with a European focus, rather than national. The election promises are surprisingly specific rather than vague and mainly critical of EU-policy rather than the European Union as a political system. The conclusion of this result is that the European Parliament elections as 'second-order national elections' do not emerge when election promises are studied. The results of this study has shown that there is reason to revise the prevailing picture of European Parliament elections in this field of research.

This study aims to explore ideological profiles in local parties’ electoral manifestos. Through qualitative content analysis, three profiles, redistributive, developmental, and political discontent-oriented are investigated in local parties’ electoral manifestos in the case of Norrbotten. One of the main findings shows that the political discontent-oriented profile occurs to a lesser extent in comparison with the other profiles. Instead, many of the manifestos convey concerns relating to their municipality’s persistence. Local parties in Norrbotten tend to endorse new establishments of companies and industries in their manifestos. When expressing political discontent, the electoral manifestos often focus on distancing themselves from ideology-oriented politics while claiming to be a pragmatic alternative. Some manifesto also expresses the need to prioritize vulnerable groups in the municipality, especially the Sami people, senior citizens, and rural communities within the municipality.

The European Parliament elections have since the 1980's been described as 'second-order national elections', which, among other things, means that they are less important to both political parties and to voters. Scholars have often described political parties as a weak link between the European Union and its citizens. Previous studies of the fulfillment of election promises have mainly focused on national governments, and not national political parties in the European Parliament. The purpose of this descriptive study is to investigate the level of fulfillment of election promises that Swedish parliamentary parties present in their election manifestos for the European Parliament election 2014. Based on previous research, this study tests five hypotheses on the material. By mapping and analyzing 183 election promises from 8 election manifestos, the results show a lower fulfillment level than Swedish governments usually achieve on the national arena. The result showed one possible covariation between which party groups the political parties belonged to and fulfillment, but no clear patterns between the characteristics of the election promise and fulfillment. The results of this study has shown that there is reason to further investigate and try to better understand election promises that are given ahead of European Parliament elections.

This essay examines the strategies adopted by the Swedish parliamentary parties against the Pirate Party (Piratpartiet). The study uses the PSO-theory, which attempt to explain the success of niche parties as a consequence of the established parties’ strategies against the new competitor. A qualitative analysis and a comparison of the parties’ manifestos from the 2002, 2006 and 2010 national elections is used to determine which strategies are adopted. Results show that a mixture of accommodative and dismissive strategies is used, which could help explain the failure of the Pirate Party in the elections.