Sweden has now joined the fate of many other European countries in which nationalist, anti-immigrant parties have taken their place at the official coalition negotiating table or even in government. First was the Freedom party in Austria. Then Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, the Danish People’s Party, the Progress party in Norway, the True Finns. And so it goes on… There tends to be a common story here, in which overtly anti-immigrant parties move from abroad at the invitation of the mainstream conservative/Christian Democratic parties. Of course, these parties represented a growing number of voices of protest in their countries, but they entered the halls of power on the back of the very aspirations of the conservative parties. The electoral success of the Sweden Democrats (20.5% of the vote) will probably not give them a place in the new government. The fourth party in the blue bloc, the Liberals, expressly refuses to sit in the same cabinet as the Sweden Democrats, who will likely take a position as a permanent, if unpredictable, support party for the government. But in any case, does the party need to be in government to be influential? In its drive towards “acceptance”, the party has implemented a policy of what it calls “zero tolerance for racism”. A few years ago the entire youth organization of the party was deleted. However, racist and harsh language against immigrants often appears on social media. From its new position as the largest party in the blue bloc and the second largest in parliament, the confident Sweden Democrats have already presented a list of 100 political demands, including a halt to all immigration, a ban on begging and the immediate deportation of convicted criminals of foreign origin. Will they be able to fundamentally change Swedish politics? many ask. This is the wrong question. The Sweden Democrats have already influenced the country’s immigration policies, as well as the public debate around immigration, and most recently caused a transformation in the entire party structure. What once marked a linguistic boundary between decency and populism is now common parlance in wider circles First, based on the unprecedented number of refugees who came to Sweden in 2015, Sweden’s generous immigration policy has been tightened. Second, what previously marked a linguistic boundary between decency and populism is now common parlance in wider circles: linking crime and immigration background. demanding a cap on the number of immigrants; and the concept of “mass immigration”, introduced by the Sweden Democrats, has now become commonplace. So much so that the party has now turned to using “giant immigration”. Moreover, the whole party structure has changed, especially since the last election. In the last televised debate in 2018, all the other parties promised that they would never depend on the Sweden Democrats. At one point, the liberal parties abandoned the blue bloc, doubting that the conservatives would keep that promise – fears that turned out to be true. In terms of issues affecting the election outcome, law and order dominated, especially due to the many fatal street shootings related to gang crime. Since the start of this year, there have been 47, often carried out by very young gang members. This agenda undoubtedly contributed to the performance of the Sweden Democrats who, according to surveys, were judged to be the most reliable party on the issue. Some researchers tried to weigh in on the debate with a report showing that if you include stabbing murders, the number of fatal attacks was actually higher in the 1980s and ’90s than today. Surveys for the 2022 election also reveal an increased gender gap among voters, a trend in many countries. For women, the most important political issues were welfare issues such as health policies and schools – and climate change. These issues “belonged” to the Social Democrats, the Green party and the Left party in the view of most voters. Instead, law and order was the most important issue for men. Overall, however, voters, both men and women, moved to the right. However, 79.5% of Swedes did not vote for the Sweden Democrats. In some ways, I would argue that the Sweden Democrats arrived too late – at least as seen from their own ideological position. Today, 25% of Swedish citizens have an immigrant background, with two parents born outside of Sweden. Sweden is, and will remain, a thriving, multicultural society. Drude Dahlerup is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University
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