This thesis studies the indirect effects of Europeanization on national political parties.   I argue that Europeanization has affected the way national parties operate, and communicate with the voters, by restricting the national policy space through increased economic and political integration. Furthermore, I argue that the impact of Europeanization is likely to be reflected in electoral manifestos and changed patterns of party competition. Accordingly, Europeanization is hypothesized to change party rhetoric in a cartel-like manner by diminishing voters’ expectations, and also by avoiding EU-affairs in electoral manifestos. The hypothesis suggests, moreover, that Europeanization is reflected in convergence among parties regarding the rhetoric concerning EU-affairs.   The purpose of the thesis is to examine to what extent the rhetoric concerning EU-affairs has changed in electoral manifestos sinceSwedenjoined the European Union in 1995. The political parties examined are Socialdemokraterna, Moderaterna and Miljöpartiet. The parties’ electoral manifestos, from the period 1994-2010, are analysed through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Subsequently, analyses from a comparison between results from earlier manifestos and older ones are evaluated.   The thesis concludes that the space given to EU-affairs in electoral manifestos consistently decrease and that the rhetoric tends to become vaguer over time. In conclusion, this result might indicate that the parties avoid debating the EU-affairs. Yet, the empirical analysis finds no signs of convergence among the parties.

The objective of the thesis is to explore if the European Union membership has changed the Swedish Green Party’s use of parlance, ideology and political content. To explore this, a quantitative content analysis has been done on election manifestos during a 30-year period on national parliamentary manifestos as well as European Parliament manifestos. A framework of green ideology as well as previous research of the Swedish Green’s is used to further the findings from the manifestos. The thesis has found that the European Union membership has affected the Swedish Greens which is seen in the change of how they use language, their transformation of ideas throughout the years as well as their views on political areas and how that has expanded. Further research is recommended to additionally explore the subject, a suggestion is to increase the material because that was an issue in this essay.

There is a large part of the population today whose perception of Swedish political parties assumes a pronounced distrust. Often, this mistrust is linked to whether politicians act on the election promises made during the election campaigns. This is a view that opposition parties often encourage through negative criticism during election campaigns and media platforms. The paradox that arises then becomes markedly confusing because research actually shows that parties almost fulfill most of the election promises made.   Furthermore, a society characterized by widespread distrust of political activity risks gradually undermining the representative democracy system, which may lead to diminished democratic legitimacy. In the field of research, therefore, there is often talk of making knowledge regarding election promises more accessible to voters, who then may examine political activity more effectively themselves. The study has analyzed the Alliance's and the Social Democrats' election promise fulfillment during the mandate periods 2006-2010 and 2014-2018, through qualitative analysis of the election manifesto and data collection from the Riksdag's website. The aim was to investigate and compare which of these party organizations best achieved good representation during the alternative government periods through clear method choices that could present data in an easily accessible way.   The study arrives at a result that shows a balancing election promise fulfillment between the Alliance and the Social Democrats, with a small statistical advantage for the Alliance. It also shows how the Alliance has achieved a slightly better representation by succeeding in fulfilling more election promises in key policy areas that the party organization has given higher priority to during the election campaigns and election manifestos.

<p>Den 17 september 2006 röstade det svenska folket för ett maktskifte i riksdagen. Den nya regeringsmakten gick under namnet Allians för Sverige och bestod av partierna Moderaterna, Centerpartiet, Folkpartiet och Kristdemokraterna. För skapandet av denna allians utarbetade partierna en tydlig gemensam politik och ett gemensamt valmanifest.</p><p>Detta är en undersökning om vad dessa fyra partier har fått offra av sin egen politik till den gemensamma politikens fördel, samt om något eller några partier har fått åsidosätta större del politik än resterande partier. Den beroende variabeln är därmed graden av office-seeking. För undersökningen har partiernas valmanifest 2002 varit utgångspunkten. På denna grund har partiernas politiska meningsskiljaktigheter noterats. Partiernas respektive ståndpunkter har därefter jämförts mot vad den gemensamma politiken från 2006 och framåt avser. För att visa på eventuella vinnare och förlorare avseende partiernas genomslag av den egna politiken har spelteorin Chicken race används. Chicken race, vars namn härstammar från spelet om att vika undan eller riskera kollision, visar hur partierna har agerat i frågor som karaktäriserats av olika åsikter.</p><p>Resultatet visar att de tre mindre partierna i Allians för Sverige har högre grad av office-seeking än vad det större partiet Moderaterna har.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

Den 17 september 2006 röstade det svenska folket för ett maktskifte i riksdagen. Den nya regeringsmakten gick under namnet Allians för Sverige och bestod av partierna Moderaterna, Centerpartiet, Folkpartiet och Kristdemokraterna. För skapandet av denna allians utarbetade partierna en tydlig gemensam politik och ett gemensamt valmanifest. Detta är en undersökning om vad dessa fyra partier har fått offra av sin egen politik till den gemensamma politikens fördel, samt om något eller några partier har fått åsidosätta större del politik än resterande partier. Den beroende variabeln är därmed graden av office-seeking. För undersökningen har partiernas valmanifest 2002 varit utgångspunkten. På denna grund har partiernas politiska meningsskiljaktigheter noterats. Partiernas respektive ståndpunkter har därefter jämförts mot vad den gemensamma politiken från 2006 och framåt avser. För att visa på eventuella vinnare och förlorare avseende partiernas genomslag av den egna politiken har spelteorin Chicken race används. Chicken race, vars namn härstammar från spelet om att vika undan eller riskera kollision, visar hur partierna har agerat i frågor som karaktäriserats av olika åsikter. Resultatet visar att de tre mindre partierna i Allians för Sverige har högre grad av office-seeking än vad det större partiet Moderaterna har.