This thesis explores discourse of the Sweden Democrats around the issue of immigration and provides an overview of changes that occurred in Sweden Democrats’ rhetoric and argumentation from National election in 2010 until the election in 2014. The study offers an analytical contribution to the field of media and communication and provides readers with the insight of right wing online activism. Qualitative in its core, and based on the theory of framing, the study analyzed video material uploaded by the Sweden Democrats on their official Youtube channel. Results are organized thematically in the way in which party framed the issue of immigration (threat to a national identity, the cause of criminal actions, unemployment and welfare abuse). The Sweden Democrats use their YouTube page as a tool for alternative political communication. The findings indicate a major shift in their rhetoric about the issue of immigration from sharp criticism of mass immigration on religious and cultural grounds toward criticism based on economical and financial grounds. On their journey towards more democratic norms, the Sweden Democrats sought to give an impression of new, changed party, distant from racial roots by employing ‘softened’ rhetoric and blowing a ‘dog whistle’.

The aim of this essay was to determine 1. How Muslims were described in the Sweden Democrats official magazine and 2. What the purpose with their descriptions could be. The material, the SD-Courier was chosen due to it being an official magazine that was easily accessible. A hermeneutic method was used where each article selected was read several times to create a greater understanding for the material and the phenomenon within. Several articles, nine out of 485, mentioned Islam and Muslims. The description of Muslims and Islam was exclusively negative in that most authors and articles tried to describe Muslims and Islam as a threat. The threat ranged between a local threat, threatening Sweden as a whole and finally threatening the entire Western civilization. The reasons for the descriptions can be several. By creating stereotypes of Muslims as evil the Sweden Democrats create a stereotype of themselves as the “good guys”. By doing so they also create an opportunity for recruiting new members to the party. Another reason is the assignment of blame. Muslims become the scapegoat for problems in society which may lack obvious solutions.

Det finns en hel del forskning om högerpopulistiska partiers relation till massmedier, och hur den högerextrema rörelsen använder sociala medier. Hur högerpopulistiska partier använder material från medierna för att rama in sina politiska budskap är däremot mindre utforskat. Frågeställningarna för undersökningen var hur Sverigedemokraterna agerar som news aggregator på sin Facebook-sida i samband med riksdagsvalet 2014, och hur partiet ramar in det redaktionella material de länkar till. En kvalitativ undersökning med utgångspunkt i teorin om framing gjordes av samtliga officiella inlägg på Sverigedemokraternas Facebook-sida under perioden 140801 – 141031. Inläggen grupperades utifrån sex teman (mobilisering, Sverigedemokraterna mot etablissemanget, välfärd, ekonomi, invandring och hotet mot Sverige). De inläggen som innehöll länkar till redaktionellt material analyserades vad gäller syftet med nyhetsförmedlingen och inramningen av det länkande materialet. Analysen visar hur Sverigedemokraterna använder Facebook-sidan för att förmedla sin egen tolkning av händelser under valrörelsen. Det redaktionella materialet används för att ge SD legitimitet, hämta hem segrar och förstärka bilden av stödet för partiet. Två gestaltningar dominerar inramningen av de länkade artiklarna. Den ena är att SD som enda parti vågar tala klarspråk om den negativa utvecklingen i Sverige och därmed ger röst åt ”vanligt folk”. Den andra är att Sverige är hotat och att detta på olika sätt kan kopplas till invandringen. Detta ligger i linje med resultat från tidigare forskning.

The aim of the current study was to examine the radical right-wing sympathizers in Sweden. To fulfill this aim, a quantitative case study on Sweden Democrats sympathizers was conducted. More specifically, this study has examined socio-economic backgrounds and political attitudes of the Sweden Democrat sympathizers. The results show that sympathizers of Sweden Democrats are higher among younger people and men. The results also show a higher support for Sweden Democrats among people with lower education and low income that also live in small towns and in the countryside. These individuals also have lower trust in political institutions at the national and European level and are less satisfied with democracy at both levels and believe that Sweden should reduce immigration. The theory explains that these results are also consistent in other parts of Europe. The underlying explanation for these results seems to be that the world has become amore globalized, and these individuals who sympathize with radical right-wing populist parties are the ones who are negatively affected by a globalized world.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the ideological similarities and differences between the two Swedish conservative parties Sweden Democrats and the Moderate Party by study how the two parties basic ideological positions relate to liberal and traditional conservative values. The four dimensions view of human nature (pessimistic - optimistic), theory of society (collectivist - individualistic), view on moral values (collectivist - individualistic) and view on economic ideals (collectivist - individualistic) are used as the analytical instrument to study the two parties ideological positions on each dimension, where the pessimistic/collectivist positions represents traditional conservative values and the optimistic/individualistic positions represents liberal values. My result show that the Moderate Party express a predominantly optimistic view of human nature, a individualistic theory of society, a individualistic view on moral values and a individualistic basic position in their view on economic ideals. The Sweden Democrats express a pessimistic view of human nature, a collectivist theory of society, a collectivist view on moral vaues and a collectivist basic position in their view on economic ideals. My result thus shows that fundamental ideological differences can be discerned between the Sweden Democrats and the Moderate Party.

This thesis analyses the ideology of the Radical right-wing Populist Party, Sweden Democrats. The aim of the study is to see if and how the ideology of the Sweden Democrats has changed through its years of activity, by comparing the party in three periods. The focus in the analysis is put on the party's view on the Swedish national identity and on multiculturalism. The reason for analyzing the party's view on these two concepts is due to the fact that they can be seen as corner stones in a racist ideology. An explanation of the concepts will be presented in the theory chapter, which is later used in the analysis of the party. The study shows that the ideology of the Sweden Democrats has changed very little throughout its years of activity in terms of their view on the national identity and the multicultural idea. This as a result has led to a similar amount of change in the arguments that can be seen as racist, by the party.

The Sweden Democrats are very clear in what way they want to be described as; as the only opposition party in the Swedish parliament. Is it possible that Swedish media helps in creating that description? This essay examines in what way Swedish media are describing the Sweden Democrats in condition to the establishment. By doing a discourse analysis, the essay will find out which discourse that is dominating about the Sweden Democrats in the two Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen. The results shows that the dominate discourse is describing the party as an outsider in relationship to the establishment, but that in the same time a normalization is going on in times where the elections are far away. It also shows that it's only in the question about immigration that this 7-to-1 picture is described, which also is the party’s main question. In other political questions, media shows a picture of a party that try to widen their politics to a direction towards both of the blocks.

A controversial party’s entry into parliament - a review of Expressen’s depiction of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) The purpose of this essay was to study how Expressen presents the Sweden Democrats, as well as reasoning about the effects this depiction could have on the citizens’ opinion. Using a quantitative method I studied 122 articles, and through a qualitative method four of these could be further analyzed to reach a deeper result. The theoretical perspective that was applied in this study was primary agenda-setting and framing theory, to illuminate the power of media. The result showed that a prominent theme was to present Sweden Democrats as racists. Other recurring themes were to include the party misfortunate-, successful, crime-related scandals and as victims. It also showed that the Sweden Democrats rarely gets to speak in the articles and that the headlines and events are angled in an unfavorable way for the party.

The aim of this study is to describe ideas put forward by Sweden Democrats (Swedish: Sverigedemokraterna) about Christianity in Sweden and the Church of Sweden as a Folk Church, a church for a whole people, and how the political party uses Christianity as a part of constructing a Swedish identity. The investigation is based on official documents, newspaper articles, statements and political motions which are analysed using a form of text analysis called idea analysis. The theoretical frame of the investigation is founded on Claire Mitchell’s theory about religious content in ethnic identities and Einar Billing’s and Johan Alfred Eklund’s thoughts about what makes the Church of Sweden a Folk Church. The investigation shows, among other things, that the Sweden Democrats’ view of the Church of Sweden is similar to the thoughts of Eklund but they differ in their lack of references to theology. The investigation also shows that Christianity serves as an important marker for the Sweden Democrats in creating a Swedish identity.

The purpose for this study is to compare two major Swedish daily newspapers “Dagens Nyheter” and “Svenska Dagbladet” and their statements regarding the electors of Sweden Democrats attitude regarding immigrants and immigration policy during the autumn of 2013. The scope was to analyze medias interpretation with the electors of the Sweden Democrats statements and opinions regarding their immigration policy. I have used three different ques­tions to fulfill my purpose; the first one is to describe how media chooses to present the elec­tors of Sweden Democrats opinions regarding immigrants. The second question is to reflect and pre­sent the electors own opinions on immigrants and their immigration policies. The final area is to identify similarities and differences with medias interpretation and the electors own statements. The theory which will characterize my study is based on fram­ing, with the purpose to show how media presents the reality. The method I have used for this study is based on both qualitative and quantitative facts were the questions at issue is based on both analyses of released news articles and from gathered statistics. My conclusion is that the electors have more negative opinions against immigrants then the picture media presents.