Review article
https://doi.org/10.20901/an.19.05
A Century of Swedish Democracy: From Social Democrats to Sweden Democrats
Boris Havel
orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-9408
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to present, through a historical overview, the political system of the Kingdom of Sweden, often considered one of the most stable in the world. Throughout most of its democratic history, Swedish politics has featured political rivalry of two blocks: left, led by the Social Democrats, and right led by the Moderates. This traditional dichotomy was upset in 2010 when the Sweden Democrats, which emerged out of extremist right-wing movements, first became parliamentary party. Their winning of parliamentary seats and subsequent increase to third, and in 2022 to second largest parliamentary party has been arguably the greatest upset in contemporary Swedish politics. This research is focused on the emergence and expansion of the Sweden Democrats, and the way in which they, apparently temporarily, unsettled traditional two-block system of the Swedish parliamentary politics. Based on their party program, political actions, reactions of other parties’ leaders, and the social processes which led to their success, it is examined whether or not the Sweden Democrats have transformed into a mainstream conservative party, and whether or not the Swedish parliamentary politics resumed its two-blocks features.
Keywords
Sweden; Riksdag; social-democracy; welfare state; Sweden Democrats; folkhemmet; trygghet; Tidö Agreement
Hrčak ID:
285304
URI
Publication date:
14.12.2022.
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