Over the previous two decades, immigration to Sweden has been at historically high levels. During the same period, immigration has been a contentious issue. From its beginnings as a neo-nazi movement in the late1980s, the Sweden Democrats grew to enter parliament in 2010 and has continued to grow since then. In the election of 2022, it overtook the Moderates as the second largest party in parliament and was invited, for the first time, to co-operate on government policy with the Moderate-led coalition in exchange for supporting the Moderate candidate for prime minister. Although reducing immigration was previously a controversial position, numerous Swedish political partys now embrace the idea, signifying a major shift in the country’s politics. This study examines the issue by comparing electoral programs and party programs from the Moderates and the Sweden Democrats from two points in time. Using qualitative analysis, the aim is to determine whether the Moderates have come to adopt a position on immigration more similar to that of the Sweden Democrats and also to discuss how best to understand the nature of such a change against a backdrop of the ideologies of the respective parties.
2024-05-24