The social and economic background to politics in Steyr was highly unusual. The town was a working class, social democratic stronghold isolated within an agrarian, conservative region. Moreover, its economy was unstable automobile works, dominated by one single, highly the Steyr-Werke. This thesis is concerned with the ways in which this unusual background dominated and defined the nature and development of the local social democratic movement between 1927 and 1934. It argues that this background conditioned the emergence of a distinctive, insular social democratic ethos which encapsulated a moderate, reformist approach to politics based not on ideological considerations, but on practical local experience. Between 1927 and 1929, the Steyr-Werke undertook a massive expansion of production and employment which triggered a local economic boom. The boom in the local economy supported and promoted the social democratic ethos. Conversely, the sudden shutdown of automobile production late in 1929 plunged the local economy into depression and undermined the rationale of the social democratic ethos, which became anachronistic and inconsistent with the new local economic background. However, the unwieldiness of the Social Democratic Party structure and the rigidly bureaucratic mentality of the party leadership precluded effective response to the new local conditions. The inability to respond stimulated the development of an opposition faction within the movement which rejected the authority and policies of the established party leadership, and which mobilised in support of a radically different, quasi-communist political strategy.

This study aims to examine the existence of populism in campaign speeches held by the Swedish party the Social Democrats in the election years 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 in Almedalen. By attempting to answer if there is any populism in the party´s speeches, and if the populism has increased over the years, the essay will analyze the speeches using a qualitative text analysis and a descriptive idea analysis. Based on the study of the theory, ideal types have been created to be applied to the speeches. The study´s definition of populism is created by Mudde and Kaltwasser (2017).They mean that populism is a communication style used in politics. This study’s results show that there is populism in the Social Democrats speeches held in Almedalen. The results also show that various amounts of populism have existed in the speeches over the years.

In 1917, the Swedish socialist party SAP, Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Arbetarparti, was split in two. A more radical, leftish fraction broke out and became SSV, Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Vänsterparti (today Vänsterpartiet). The party division is often explained with different attitudes concerning parliamentarism and militarisation – a more compromising one and a more revolutionary and defence nihilist one – that in a time of world war and revolutions led to insurmountable disagreements. Several of the party members thought that the division would not be permanent, as it became. The cementation of the separation suggests that there were more fundamental differences between the leaving fraction and the remaining SAP than just short-sighted political questions such as the WW1. This essay investigates the concept of freedom in the social democratic discourse to discover whether different views and usage of the concept of freedom might indicate greater ideological differences that cemented the division. This is a thorough study of the Social Democrat magazine Tiden during the period 1915-1920, with this purpose. To see the differences properly, a theoretical background on freedom is made, where the differences between liberal, socialist and Leninist freedom together with the ideas of freedom to and freedom from, as well as Isaiah Berlins concepts of positive and negative freedom are distinguished and examined. After the examination of the material, the conclusion is drawn that the views on and ideas of freedom vary greatly, and that it is very likely that it did have an impact on the division, especially in a long-term perspective.

<p>The purpose of the essay is to examine the Swedish Social Democrats (SAP) and its relation to the EU. The specific area of interest is the SAP in its relation to the process of the constitutional/reform treaty. The process period researched in this essay stretches from 2000-april 2008. The research question is, How has the SAP evolved in relation to the EU during the time period 2000 till 2008 and are there signs of external EU pressure changing the party behaviour or position?</p><p>This case study has the methodological approach of a qualitative text analysis. The concept of Europeanization makes it possible to construct an analytical framework which measures possible impact from the EU on domestic political parties. This impact is measured in three different areas, first if the party is adapting its internal structure to ease its engagement with the EU, secondly if the party is adapting its policy because of the EU and thirdly in the area of patterns of party competition. With the analytical framework drawn from the concept of Europeanization it is possible to point at indicators that are signs of EU-impact. The SAP seems to have both a practical adaptation and a policy adaptation but it still remains somewhat EU-sceptical in the area of patterns of party competition. The conclusion is that there are quite massive amounts of evidence of possible EU-pressure on the SAP.</p>

<p>Abstract: The purpose with this study is to analyse the political debate about freedom of speech in Sweden and Denmark, after the caricatures of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed that the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten published in September 2005. For this debate four political parties have been chosen. These are: Socialdemokratiska Partiet and Moderata Samlingspartiet in Sweden and Socialdemokraterne and Venstre in Denmark.</p><p>An idea analysis has been chosen as method, and dimensions as an analysing tool. The overall result of the analysis is that right- and left political parties in Sweden and Denmark are more alike, than different in their political debate about free speech. They all wish for total freedom of speech, and see that as the foundation of the democratic society. The difference between the parties is that left parties put more weight on personal responsibility and minorities, than right parties that mostly debate about the meaning of democracy and why freedom of speech should not be restricted.</p>

Įvairių priežasčių skatinama XX. a. viduryje išeivijoje jau buvo atsidūrusi nemaža dalis lietuvių tautos. Išeiviai kūrė organizacijas, leido savo leidinius. Šiame darbe siekiama atskleisti šiuo metu gerokai primiršto socialdemokratinio žurnalo „Darbas“, ėjusio JAV 1947–1960 m., istoriją. Tam kelti uždaviniai: atskleisti LDD ir DDT organizacijų idėjines nuostatas, jų narių įnašus į žurnalo leidybą bei bendrą šių organizacijų įtaką žurnalo pobūdžiui; išnagrinėti bandymus į žurnalo leidybą pritraukti organizacijoms nepriklausiusius asmenis, jų įnašus į žurnalo turinį; papildyti istoriografijoje jau žinomas derybų dėl bendro žurnalo leidybos su liberaliosios srovės atstovais nesėkmės priežastis; išnagrinėti žurnalo leidybos problemas, nustatyti jo užsidarymo priežastis, atskleisti bandymus tęsti leidybą ar kurti naujus žurnalus „Darbo“ idėjos pagrindu; atskleisti „Darbe“ skelbtas idėjas, pažiūras ir turinį. LDD, susikūrusi (1932) kaip opozicija JAV lietuvių komunistų tarpe kylančios autoritarinėms tendencijoms, ilgainiui tapo socialdemokratiška organizacija. 1947 m. ji ėmė leisti žurnalą „Darbas“. LDD nariai St. Strazdas, N. Jonuška, J. V. Stilsonas, K. Bielinis, St. Kairys, J. Sonda buvo žurnalo redaktoriais, administratoriais, autoriais. DDT (1954) vienijo kairiųjų pažiūrų jaunimą. Jos nariai J. Repečka, J. Kiznis tapo vyr. redaktoriais. DDT suorganizavo Darbo Fondą ir taip apjungusi intelektines ir finansines žurnalo pajėgas buvo arti to, kad perimtų „Darbą“ į savo rankas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Due to various reasons a great part of the Lithuanian people were living in emigration in the middle of the 20th century. Emigrants have always established organizations, published periodicals. The main aim of this thesis is to reveal the history of forgotten journal “Darbas”, published in the USA in 1947–1960. For this aim the following tasks were set: to reveal ideas of LDD and DDT, the influence on and contributions to the journal of these organizations and their members; to explore the attempts to attract other persons to become authors of “Darbas” and the contribution they made; to complement the already known in historiography reasons why negotiations with liberals inviting them to write for “Darbas” and to have a common journal were unsuccessful; to explore the problems of publishing, to find out the reasons why publishing had to be stopped, to reveal the attempts to continue publishing and to create new journals on the base of “Darbas” idea; to reveal the ideas proposed in and the content of “Darbas”. Established in 1932 to oppose authoritarian tendencies among Lithuanian communists in the USA, LDD gradually became a social democratic organization, which began to publish journal “Darbas” in 1947. Members of this organization (J. V. Stilsonas, K. Bielinis, St. Kairys, etc.) were the editors, the administrators and the authors of “Darbas”. Established in 1954, DDT was the organization that united the leftist youth. Members of DDT J. Repečka, J. Kiznis were chief... [to full text]

In Sweden there is scepticism if there really is a difference between the two biggest political parties, the Moderate/Conservative party and the Swedish Social Democrats. The voters feels that the arguments used by both parties are more or less the same and that it does not matter on whom you vote. Hence I am going to compare the parties’ policy programs, developed by the members in each party, by an analysis of ideas to see if the two parties are so similar that they hardly are two different options, or if there is a divergence between the two.   My choosing of the parties’ policy programs comes from a decision to look at the members’ party, they are the authors of the programs, the core. I have to admit I am not unbiased in this work. Since December 2005 I have been active in the Swedish Social Democratic Youth, and later on the Swedish Social Democrats where I had a seat in the municipal council in Kalmar between 2010 and 2014. In February this year I changed party to the Left Party, and now am solely a member. This may affect my presentation of the parties, so read critically, but since my work is not about interpretation but presentation, my political background should have minimal effect on this work.   For over 100 years the Social Democrats more or less had power in Sweden, and the Moderate/Conservative party were in opposition. This changed in 2006, and the bourgeois government got a new mandate to govern in the general election 2010.  Looking at the political subjects of work, economy, welfare, education, the EU, immigration and environment; I found out that the parties often share the same goals, but differ in how to get there. Some core differences could be found, the moderate/conservative party both has lowered taxes as a goal as well as a meaning to get to the goal, and they argue warm heartily about more private corporations in the welfare sector.  The Social Democrats on the other hand argues for investments in the welfare sector (and hence higher taxation) and the rights of the labourers.   This results in a conclusion that when the parties are discussing goals, they are fairly similar. But if you look at the means to reach the goals, they do have their differences and it does matter on which party you vote.

This essay has examined the social-democratic parties in both Sweden and Denmark and their political development regarding immigration policy during the period 2014-2018. This period saw a large number of refugees who came to Europe, which led to stricter immigration policy across Europe. The Danish migration policy has been stricter than the Swedish migration policy. Denmark is therefore interesting to compare with Sweden because they are a country similar to Sweden in many ways. The questions in this essay is following: - How has the Social Democrats migration policy evolved in Sweden compared to Denmark from 2014 to 2018? - How can these parties' migration policy be explained? The questions are answered by comparing the Social Democrats in Sweden and the Social Democrats in Denmark, which has been done according to the model Most Similar System Design (MSSD) with the control variables historical background, ideological, financial situation and political system. The explanatory variable is political culture and the dependent variable is a migration policy. The empirical material has then been compared in accordance with MSSD and opposed the theory othering. The conclusions of this essay are based on the fact that migration policy is different due to political culture.

The challenge of immigration has divided EU member states, political parties, media and academia as well as the electorate of EU countries, leaving political decision makers under tremendous pressure on both national and EU level. To alleviate the situation for highly burdened member states, the Commission has suggested a permanent relocation mechanism for refugees, but so far, many member states have been reluctant to accept higher shares of refugees. Some observers have labelled the situation a crisis of solidarity, challenging the idea of European integration, but also questioning the Union’s capacity to demonstrate solidarity between member states, and consequently its capacity to show solidarity with arriving refugees.   By looking at European Parliament debates, this paper examines the main differences between the European Christian Democratic and Social Democratic understandings of solidarity and how these differences become visible in relation to relocation of refugees and asylum seekers between EU member states. The findings suggest that while there is some convergence, Christian Democrats are more inclined to consider refugees as a threat and to advocate the need of securing external borders than their Social Democratic counterparts. Social Democrats also to a larger extent favour the idea of making relocation mandatory, while many Christian Democrats emphasize the importance of subsidiarity.   The findings can be associated with the foundational values of both party groups and their political understandings of solidarity. Most interestingly, however, this paper finds that the national level variance within these two party groups is frequently bigger, than between them – indicating that MEP’s understandings of solidarity are perhaps more strongly mediated by nationality than political affiliation.

The purpose is to understand the reasons for changed perceptions about Swedish nuclear weapons during the time when Sweden considered acquiring these weapons. The main question is: which stories about Swedish nuclear weapons did key players in Sweden present from 1958 to 1963 and how did these stories change. Primary sources are texts from 1958– 1963, texts for or against Swedish atomic weapons, government investigations and political texts and bills. The theoretical perspective is framing analysis (Kuypers) and narrative analysis (Shenhav) unified in a method. Text-by-text, framing, agenda extension, and story are investigated and compared, supported by previous research. The analysis shows that stories can be divided into five categories, the military, the dystopian, the scientific, the state community building and the security policy stories. In 1958, the military story of nuclear weapons dominated as an issue of weapons development in the nuclear age. The following year, new stories came from opinion leaders, the yes side developed stories about the necessity of the bomb for the military and in foreign policy. The no side told stories about the consequences of a Swedish bomb as a dystopia for humanity and the collapse in foreign relations. Both told scientific stories about the effects which either ended in calming message to the people or created fear of radiation damage and the genetics of future generations. After 1959 both the Social Democrats and the military began to hesitate and changed their stories. Among other things, future civil nuclear power, economic realism and good relations with the US outweighed the idea of nuclear weapons guaranteeing a Swedish non-alliance policy. The change in the stories could also be interpreted as an early de facto no a conclusion shared by previous research. By 1963 the Social Democrats' story of a modern society without nuclear weapons dominated.