Mid Sweden University

Political parties maintain connections with various sub-organisations to engagedifferent segments of society. Common among these are party youth wings. Theserelationships are often described as mutual, where votes are exchanged for policies.However, little research delves into how members of these sub-organisationsperceive their roles in relation to the senior party. Based on a web survey ofapproximately 3000 respondents, this study investigates the views of youth wingmembers within Swedish political parties. Specifically, it explores whether membersbelieve their youth wing’s primary role should be to influence or support the seniorparty. Drawing on theories of political engagement incentives, it examines theconnection between members’ political and career motivations and their perceptionsof these roles. Results suggest that those with career-oriented incentives tend toview the youth wing as supportive, while politically motivated members prioritiseinfluencing the senior party. This research contributes to our understanding ofthe complex dynamics within political parties and their affiliated organisations,shedding light on how individual motivations shape organisational roles. 

Youth wings fulfil vital democratic functions. They connect parties with young people, socialise them into political life, andtrain future candidates and officials. Yet, youth wings have been largely overlooked by party scholars. In this article, wepresent the Youth Wing Membership Survey (YOUMEM) dataset. With responses from over 5000 members of 12 centreleft and centre-right youth wings in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, YOUMEM is the largestcomparative study of youth wing members ever conducted. Using the dataset, we examine some basic questions aboutyouth wing members: who they are, when and why they join. We find that youth wing members are primarily men andhighly educated. Many have relatives who were party members, and most are extremely ambitious compared to seniorparty members. Beyond these commonalities, we also uncover differences across party families and countries. Our projectprovides a unique window on the young people in contemporary youth wings.

Purpose – How does right-wing populist discourse evolve in response to increased parliamentary influence overtime? This study analyses party leader debates of the Sweden Democrats (SD) in the Swedish parliamentbetween 2010 and 2024, focusing on four key populist elements: people-centrism, anti-elitism, popularsovereignty and antagonism.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the inclusion-moderation thesis and existing theories of populistcommunication, we map and interpret shifts in the discourse over time. Previous research has often focused onhighly mediatized arenas, such as news media outlets and social media, which are also posited to be conducive to“sloganized” and sensationalist forms of communication. The study adds to current research by redeployingearlier conceptualizations of populist communication in a highly formalized and regulated environment. Using amixture of qualitative and quantitative analyses, we assess changes in the frequency and configuration ofpopulist elements in the SD’s discourse.Findings – Our findings reveal that the SD have largely maintained its populist discourse as per configuration,while the overall frequency of populist instances has declined between 2010 and 2024. The discourse emphasizesa strong focus on being representatives of the “people” as opposed to the corrupt “elites” throughout the years.Originality/value – Observed shifts in how this internal logic is substantiated shed light on the adaptable natureof populist communication. These results offer new insights into the evolving nature of populist communicationin a parliamentary context.

The ideological fit between party grassroots and leaderships has long been a concern for political science,with members in general, and young members in particular, thought to be more radical. However, we do not know,first, whether this is still the case and, if it is, what drives members in different ideological directions. To investigate,we propose a new typology of members as radicals, moderates and aligned, and develop a theoretical frameworkthat accounts for how political socialization and party contexts drive congruence and incongruence. We test thisusing YOUMEM survey data from over 4,000 members of 12 youth wings in six countries. Our results show thatwhile radicals are the largest group in most youth wings, they are more common on the centre-left than the centre-right. They tend to have been in the youth wing for longer than aligned members, but are under-represented amongpolitically ambitious members. Our findings thus shed light on opinion structures within political parties and providea typology for future research on intra-party cohesion.

This study investigates how members of party youth wings perceive their respectiveyouth wings and identifies areas they believe require improvement. Empirically, thestudy surveys the youth wings of eight Swedish political parties, exploring members’experiences using open-ended questions. The findings confirm that political andsocial aspects hold greater importance for youth wing members compared tomaterial benefits. Additionally, the analysis reveals how members view the youthwing as a transformative community fostering personal growth, self-exploration andthe development of values. Notably, the youth wing is seen as a community unifiedby shared values, with a collective vision for the world and a focus on collaborativeefforts to realize that vision. Challenges include expectations set by the motherparty, such as campaigning and career aspirations, and negative perceptions of thecompetitive political landscape, citing conflicts and factionalism.