Literature on climate policy of political parties’ points to an emerging congruence between populist radical right parties and scepticism toward climate change and climate policy. This thesis explores this nexus via a case study of the Sweden Democrats (SD) climate policy over a period of twelve years (2010-2022). It examines if the Sweden Democrats have expressed variations of climate scepticism and whether this has varied over time. Idea analysis and a taxonomy of three categories of climate scepticism are used for analysing official policy material of the Sweden Democrats. This thesis finds that the Sweden Democrats have outcomes on all three categories of climate scepticism: evidence (i.e., whether human caused climate change is happening), process (related to bureaucratic and scientific processes, e.g., scepticism against dominant research paradigms and bureaucratic decision making), and response scepticism (related to policy choices dealing with climate change). Over time there has been a gradual migration of scepticism from evidence and process related scepticism toward more policy-oriented forms of scepticism that concerns type of policy and attitudinal responses to climate change. Sweden Democrats climate scepticism is primarily anchored in arguments related to desired levels of national response and issues of trade/offs, with climate scepticism frequently constructed through frameworks of the potential harm that climate mitigation may do to national sovereignty, national economy, and industries. Another finding is that the Sweden Democrats overall have a lower salience and prioritization of climate issues compared to other parties represented in parliament whose climate policy they criticize, presenting their climate policy as alternative to these parties. This thesis concludes that the Sweden Democrats climate scepticism is closer to an unconvinced stance toward climate change rather than strictly denialistic, with evidentiary sceptic arguments over time becoming less frequent and decreasing in the degree of scepticism.

This thesis deals with differences in the level of satisfaction with democracy between populists and non-populists in eleven Western European countries the past twenty years, with the common denominator that they all have experienced the electoral success of a populist radical-right party and a population increasingly expressing distrust and dissatisfaction with democracy. The thesis is based on a definition of populism in which it is regarded as a threat to democracy, and moreover, the thesis explores whether there are any significant differences in the level of satisfaction with democracy and whether these differences changes as time passes between these two voter groups.  The results of the analysis, which is carried out quantitively, strengthens the theoretical expectations, proving that there is a significant negative correlation between being populist and level of satisfaction with democracy, and that the effect becomes stronger as time passes. The results also align with the perception that societal changes such as modernization and globalization has contributed to the growth of new voter groups who express their dissatisfaction with democracy by opposing the establishment, thus turning to the political alternatives.

Populism is a phenomenon that impacts not only nation-states and their institutions but also the institutions of international-supranational organizations. This is the case of the European Union, where populist radical right parties (PRRPs) – the most predominant type of populism in Europe – reached the Parliament in 1984, consolidated in 2014, and have since then participated in the debates about the European legislation. Such participation has been mainly framed by the current functioning of the European Parliament (EP), which grants greater importance to alliances instead of individual Members of the Parliament, thereby, PRRPs cooperated among themselves in three groups: the European Conservatives and Reformists, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, and the Europe of Nations and Freedom.  Particularly in migration, a key area of interest of these parties because of their nativist and authoritarian characteristics, these alliances have specific positions and therefore, have promoted different strategies aimed at increasing the powers of member states by diminishing European integration, strengthening the EU external borders, and preventing the arrival of new immigrants, especially the illegal ones. This was particularly reinforced in the 8th parliamentary period that lasted from 2014 to 2019, which also coincided with the 2015 refugee crisis. In this context, the EP adopted and implanted various legislation to cope with the crisis, including the European Border and Coast Guard, the European travel document for the return of illegally staying third-country nationals, the Entry/Exit System, the European Travel Information and Authorization System, and the reinforcement of the mandate of the EU-LISA agency.  In 30.905 words, this research aims at understanding whether PRRPs’ characteristics and positions have influenced the EU immigration legislation, measured by how successful have been the two common strategies they undertake to do so: influencing the voters’ attitudes and opinions and obstructing parliamentary proceedings. Data shows that these groups still have a minority in the Parliament, do not vote together as a bloc, some of them do not actively participate in parliamentary work, and therefore, have limited power to impact the legislation as they can only do it indirectly by shaping the behavior of their electoral force.

This thesis analyzes the correlation between right-wing populist narratives on migration and voting patterns within the European Union. It is argued that recurrent thematic and rhetorical strategies embedded with right-wing populist features are prominent throughout politicians’ discourses. To allow a complex discussion, this thesis utilizes three poststructuralist concepts, including Michel Foucault’s discourse, power/knowledge approaches, and Jacques Derrida’s conception of deconstruction. To provide a comprehensive yet narrow insight into the topic, the theoretical framework is combined with the qualitative content analysis methodology, allowing a systemic analysis of Italy, Sweden, Hungary, and France between 2017-2024. Moreover, the data selection includes politicians’ narratives and secondary data from the latest national elections within the four member states. This provides a complex overview of how rhetorics frame migration as a national ‘threat’, include anti-elitist statements, and legitimize the willingness to reduce it. Therefore, the findings underline that narratives on migration are embedded with the power/knowledge nexus and the dichotomy of ‘us’ versus the ‘others’, producing a sentiment of fear that can be correlated to voting patterns. The recurrent use of discursive strategies and similar voting behavior demonstrates that the right-wing populist narrative phenomenon is a transnational practice.

The political party Sweden democrats became Sweden’s third largest party in 2014 after entering the Swedish parliament back in 2010 for the first time. During this time discussions about the party background and ideology have increased both from other parties and in the society. The controversy surrounding the party can partly be traced back to its foundation and the period before the party entered the national parliament in 2010. Sweden democrats was founded in 1988 by the remains of two right wing extremist movements, today the party has distanced itself from Nazism and calls itself a social conservative party. According to studies Sweden democrat’s ideology is considered as right-wing radical populism. This difference of identification is a problem, because it creates questions why it exists. Are the Sweden democrats really a social conservative party or is the party rendering a false image, and why. In this essay I will use ideal types of the two ideologies social conservative and Right-wing radical populism to evaluate which ideal type can describe the ideology in the party materials of the Swedish democrats most adequate. Additionally this essay will compare the ideal types to see how different the two ideologies are. The analysis and conclusion shows that the two ideologies differs from each other, but they share a few aspects. The evaluation of Sweden democrats party material does show that the party shares the fundamental value of right-wing radical populism and contains attributes from that theory, including etno-nationalism and etno-pluralism. The essays conclusion is therefore that Sweden democrats appears to be a right-wing radical populist party. That creates a question for future research, why the party identify itself as a social conservative party.

In this study, I address the relationship between religion and politics in the Nordic countries, 1988–2012, against a background of increasing religious diversity alongside more or less continuous relationships between church and state. My aim is to analyse possible changes in the way religion is referred to by Nordic parliamentary parties, and in the way these parties use religion as a means to societal cohesion. I use theories on religious change and on the motives for using religion in politics to discuss a possible re-emergence of religion in politics, with the help of concepts such as functional differentiation, glocalisation and politicisation. I apply different forms of content analysis in a mixed-methods approach, using both substantial and functional definitions of religion. The thesis is based on four articles published or accepted for publication in peer-reviewed international journals: First, a study on religion in Nordic party platforms from around 1988, 1998 and 2008. Second, a study on religion in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish parliamentary debates, 1988/89, 1998/99 and 2008/09. Third, a study on the role of the majority churches in the final Nordic parliamentary debates on same-sex unions 1989–2012. Fourth, a study on Danish and Norwegian parliamentary debates on the wearing of veils among judges and policewomen in 2009. The major findings are that the references to religious diversity in party platforms and parliamentary debates have increased, which leads to a more complex understanding of the religious cleavage in politics, and that right-wing populist parties in particular politicise religion to achieve political influence. Furthermore, human rights have been increasingly used to address religious diversity as a political issue. I interpret these findings as continuous use of religion for societal cohesion in Nordic politics, through a model of different forms of politicisation using the concepts civil religion, human rights and nationalism. The thesis contributes to a better understanding of the religious cleavage, politicisation of religion, the impact of globalisation on the political debate about religion and changes as well as continuity regarding the use of religion in Nordic politics. / <p>Cover photography: Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (chairman of The Moderate Party) debates with Member of Parliament Jimmie Åkesson (chairman of The Sweden Democrats) in the Swedish parliament Riksdagen on 19 January 2011. Photographer: Melker Dahlstrand/Riksdagsförvaltningen.</p> / NOREL / Impact of Religion

This thesis aims to describe the use of gender symbols and gender equality ideas in contemporary nationalist parties in Sweden. Nationalism and national identity traditionally contain gendered ideas, symbols and identities, in which women are subordinate to men. Paradoxically, in Sweden, gender equality has become an intrinsic part of the national identity. Theories on gender and nationalism are applied and used in the quantitative and qualitative analysis in order to distinguish and describe the use of gender symbols and gender equality ideas in the two Swedish parties New Democracy and the Sweden Democrats. The findings show that the parties do rely on traditional nationalist gender roles, and that the Sweden Democrats emphasize these roles to a greater extent than New Democracy. The analysis also shows that both parties try to incorporate the Swedish gender equality into their ideologies but interpret the notion of gender equality in two different ways.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use of conceptual metaphors in political speeches by Donald Trump and Nigel Farage. Conceptual metaphor theory is applied as the framework for the study. Metaphorical linguistic expressions are identified with help of the method Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP). The conceptual metaphors giving rise to the metaphorical linguistic expressions are identified and categorized into different domains in the study. The analysis demonstrates that the use of metaphors is ubiquitous. The metaphors related to the salient domains of politics, nation, immigration, economy, and morality are discussed and further investigated in the analysis. The analysis shows that metaphors are employed in the construction of populist discourse and to evoke the emotion of fear by mainly drawing from embodied elements. A notable parallel between Trump and Farage is the use of the Moral Order metaphor which subsequently reveal their moral values.

This study looks at the effects of different elements of economic well-being on populist voting in nine European countries, primarily comparing the effect of past and current economic well-being to the effect of economic well-being regarding the future. With an hypothesis that economic well-being regarding the future will have a larger effect on populist voting than past and current economic well-being, the results are inconclusive and suggest the opposite, although statistically significant effects can be found for both having an influence on populist voting; primarily regarding household income, individual economic fairness, wealth distribution fairness and actively improving knowledge/skills for work.

The master thesis "True Finns. Establishment of right-wing populism in Finland?" deals with political party True Finns (The Finns, PS), its historical development and current position in Finnish party system. The master thesis is devided into three chapters. The first chapter deals with populist radical right political parties (PRR), which have established themselves in a lot of Western Europe party systém (inluding Scandinavia). Finland represented a state which had been immune of PRR. The aim of the first chapter is to answer an question, which are the main reasons of PRR emergence, respectively which were the reasons which delayed the Finnish PRR. The second chapter is concerned with political party True Finns (The Finns, PS), its historical development and ideological profile. The chapter reffers to ideological and personal roots in Finnish Rural Party. A part of the chapter is ideological core used by Cas Mudde (nativism, authoritarianism, populism) which is supplemented by an economical programme. The final part deals with the parliamentary election 2012. The final chapter concerns with current PS position in Finnish party systém and with impact on finnish politics. The chapter is closed with positive and negative factors for the future development.