In this thesis, I examine whether there has been an increase in negative campaigning and trait attacks in Sweden, and whether some of the drivers of negative campaigning found in the United States two-party system - that is, the factors that motivate parties or candidates to attack their opponent’s policies or character traits - are active likewise in the Swedish multi-party system. Based on the results of a quantitative content analysis of Swedish parliamentary election manifestos 1970-2022, I conclude that there has been no increase in negative campaigning and trait attacks in Sweden. Furthermore, out of the three well-established drivers of negative campaigning found in the United States’ two-party system, only one (ideology) was found to be active likewise in the Swedish multi-party system. It seems that contextual factors, such as the character traits of the party leaders at the time of the campaign, the social and political environment at the time of the campaign, and the parties’ party cultures in general - indeed challenging factors to operationalize and hence measure - play a large role in influencing the use of negative campaigning, at least in Sweden.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-500815 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Hidesäter Bredell, Melvin |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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