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Den dolda europeiseringen : En studie av svenska partiers retoriska förändring mellan 1995-2010

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.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-12018
Date January 2011
CreatorsLinderoth, Johanna
PublisherLinnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, SV
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageSwedish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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