Immigration, Social Welfare, and Populism in the Swedish Case After 1930s
Open Access
- Author:
- Vine, Mae
- Area of Honors:
- History
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Tobias Heinrich Albert Brinkmann, Thesis Supervisor
Cathleen Denise Cahill, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- immigration
Sweden
social welfare
populism
Sweden Democrats
European migration crisis
far-right - Abstract:
- This thesis examines the roots and development of the Sweden Democrats, currently the third-largest political party in Sweden. The Sweden Democrats emerged in 1988 as a party with close ties to the Neo-Nazi scene. However, the party’s current leaders successfully reinvented the Sweden Democrats as a populist party opposing immigration. The anti-immigrant platform attracted many voters to the Sweden Democrats, especially after the 2015 European migration crisis, when more than 160,000 asylum seekers arrived in Sweden. The Sweden Democrats portrayed the migrants as a threat to the welfare system. Sweden’s welfare system was built on providing equal opportunity to its people through a sophisticated redistribution system. Swedes pay high taxes which support health insurance, old-age pensions, protection from unemployment, and other social benefits. However, when the asylum seekers arrived, they received benefits without having paid into the system. These seemingly unearned benefits as well as immigrants’ lack of integration and perceived rise in crime as a result is what the Sweden Democrats have focused on during their quest for seats in the government. Ultimately, these political tactics have been successful for the Sweden Democrats, who are now the third-largest party in Sweden. While the Sweden Democrats might look like an extremist party because of their anti-immigrant platform, their policies in other fields are not considered extreme. In this thesis, I explain the origins of the welfare state and the roots of the Sweden Democrats party, and how it relates to the success of the Sweden Democrats.