Global InformationSweden Democrats information
Sweden Democrats Sverigedemokraterna | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | SD |
| Chairperson | Jimmie Åkesson |
| Party secretary | Mattias Bäckström Johansson |
| First deputy chair | Henrik Vinge |
| Second deputy chair | Julia Kronlid |
| Parliamentary group leader | Linda Lindberg |
| European Parliament leader | Charlie Weimers |
| Founded | 6 February 1988 |
| Preceded by | Sweden Party |
| Headquarters | Riksdag, 100 12 Stockholm |
| Newspaper | SD-Kuriren |
| Youth wing |
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| Women's wing | SD-Women |
| Membership (2020) |  33,207[1] |
| Ideology | National conservatism Right-wing populism |
| Political position | Right-wing[2] to far-right[3] |
| European affiliation | European Conservatives and Reformists Party |
| European Parliament group | European Conservatives and Reformists |
| Nordic affiliation | Nordic Freedom |
| Colours |
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| Riksdag[4] | 72 / 349 |
| European Parliament | 3 / 21 |
| County Councils[5] | 275 / 1,720 |
| Municipal Councils[5] | 2,091 / 12,614 |
| Website | |
| sd | |
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The Sweden Democrats (Swedish: Sverigedemokraterna [ˈsvæ̂rjɛdɛmʊˌkrɑːtɛɳa] ⓘ, SD [ˈɛ̂sːdeː] ⓘ) is a nationalist[6][7] and right-wing populist[8][9][10] political party in Sweden founded in 1988.[6][8][9] As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, and is the second largest party in the Riksdag.[11][12] Within the European Union, the party is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party.[13][14]
The party describes itself as social conservative with a nationalist foundation.[15][16][17] The party has also been variously characterised by academics, political commentators, and media as national-conservative,[8][6] anti-immigration,[20] anti-Islam,[21] Eurosceptic,[27] and far-right.[14][28] The Sweden Democrats reject the far-right label, saying that it no longer represents its political beliefs.[29] Among the party's founders and early members were several people that had previously been active in white nationalist and neo-Nazi political parties and organizations.[30][31][32][33][34] Under the leadership of Jimmie Åkesson since 2005, the SD underwent a process of reform by expelling hardline members and moderating its platform, building on a work that had begun during the late 1990s and early 2000s.[8][33] Today, the SD officially rejects fascism on their platform and since 2012 has maintained a zero-tolerance policy against "extremists," "lawbreakers," and "racists."[35]
The Sweden Democrats oppose current Swedish immigration and integration policies, instead supporting stronger restrictions on immigration and measures for immigrants to assimilate into Swedish culture. The party supports closer cooperation with Nordic countries, but is against further European integration and believes Sweden must have a strategy to exit the European Union if it assumes more power and that the Swedish people should be allowed to vote on future EU treaties. The Sweden Democrats are critical of multiculturalism and support having a common national and cultural identity, which they believe improves social cohesion. The party supports the Swedish welfare state but is against providing welfare to people who are not Swedish citizens and permanent residents of Sweden, a policy known as welfare chauvinism. The Sweden Democrats support a mixed market economy combining ideas from the centre-left and centre-right. The party supports same-sex marriage, civil unions for gay couples, and gender-affirming surgery but prefers that children be raised in a traditional nuclear family and argues that churches or private institutions should have the final say on performing a wedding over the state. The SD also calls for a ban on forced, polygamous or child marriages and stricter enforcement of laws against honour violence. The Sweden Democrats support keeping Sweden's nuclear power plants in order to mitigate climate change but argues that other countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissions instead of Sweden, which the party believes is doing enough to reduce their emissions. The Sweden Democrats support generally increasing minimum sentences for crimes, as well as increasing police resources and personnel. The party also supports increasing the number of Swedish Army brigades and supports raising Sweden's defense spending.
Support for the Sweden Democrats has grown steadily since the 1990s and the party crossed the 4% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation for the first time during the 2010 Swedish general election, polling 5.7% and gaining 20 seats in the Riksdag.[36][37] This increase in popularity has been compared by international media to other similar anti-immigration movements in Europe.[38] The party received increased support in the 2018 Swedish general election, when it polled 17.5% and secured 62 seats in parliament, becoming the third largest party in Sweden.[39][40] The Sweden Democrats were formerly isolated in the Riksdag until the late 2010s, with other parties maintaining a policy of refusing cooperation with them.[41][42] In 2019, the leader of the Christian Democrats, Ebba Busch announced that her party was ready to start negotiations with the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag,[43] as did Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson. In the 2022 Swedish general election, the party ran as part of a broad right-wing alliance with those two parties and the Liberals, and came second overall with 20.5% of the vote.[12] Following the election and the Tidö Agreement, it was negotiated that SD agreed to support a Moderate Party-led government together with the Christian Democrats and the Liberals.[44][45][46] It is the first time that SD holds direct influence over the government.[47][48]
- ^ "Tusentals medlemmar lämnade S i fjol – bara SD ökade" [Thousands of members leave S last year – only SD increases]. Nyheter Idag (in Swedish). 30 April 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^
- Ingeborg Toemmel (2014). The European Union: What it is and how it Works. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-137-42754-0.
- "EU parliament sees birth of new right-wing group". EUobserver. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- "Tory minders gag right-wing allies in the ECR". The Times. London. 8 November 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- "New-look European Parliament". BBC News. 3 September 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- ^
- Duxbury, Charlie (25 March 2021). "Sweden's far right takes a step closer to power". Politico Europe. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- "Swedish opposition leader tasked with forming new government". The Guardian. Stockholm: Agence France-Presse. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- "Swedish PM faces no-confidence vote, what happens now?". Reuters. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- "Magdalena Andersson: Sweden's first female PM returns after resignation". BBC News. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- "Swedish government set to lose confidence vote: parties". France 24. Stockholm. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- ^ "Ledamöter & partier". Sveriges Riksdag. 10 March 2024.
- ^ a b "Rådata och statistik". Valmyndigheten (in Swedish). 8 March 2024. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ a b c Peter Starke; Alexandra Kaasch; Franca Van Hooren (2013). The Welfare State as Crisis Manager: Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-137-31484-0. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ "Anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats celebrate election gains". Financial Times. 12 September 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference
Rydgrenwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Berezin, Mabel (2013), "The Normalization of the Right in Post-Security Europe", Politics in the Age of Austerity, Polity Press, p. 255
- ^ "Swedish voters boost anti-immigration party amid high crime". AP NEWS. 12 September 2022.
- ^ "Right-wing bloc wins narrow majority in Swedish parliament". PBS NewsHour. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- ^ a b Dahlerup, Drude (18 September 2022). "Sweden's mainstream parties cravenly opened the door to anti-immigrant populists". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
- ^ Reformists, European Conservatives and. "ECR Group – European Conservatives and Reformists Group". Ecrgroup.eu. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- ^ a b Stone, Jon (4 July 2018). "Conservatives enter alliance with Swedish far-right in European Parliament". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022.
- ^ "Partiledningen vann strid om principprogrammet". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 26 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
- ^ "Principprogram" (in Swedish). SE: Sverigedemokraterna. 2011. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014.
- ^ Aronson, Olov (May 2021). "Victimhood in Swedish political discourse". Discourse & Society. 32 (3): 292–306. doi:10.1177/0957926520977216. S2CID 230525615.
- ^ Kelly, Ben (8 September 2018). "Sweden Democrats: How a nationalist, anti-immigrant party took root in a liberal Nordic haven". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022.
- ^ *Sainsbury, Diane (2012), Welfare States and Immigrant Rights: The Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion, Oxford University Press, pp. 226–27
- Pelinka, Anton (2013), "Right-wing Populism: Concept and Typology", Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse, Bloomsbury, p. 14
- Tolinsson Ting, Kristina (2014), "Sweden: Social Solitariness", European National Identities: Elements, Transitions, Conflicts, Transaction, p. 246
- Finseraas, Henning (2012), "Anti-immigration attitudes, support for redistribution and party choice in Europe", Changing Social Equality: The Nordic Welfare Model in the 21st Century, Policy Press, p. 23
- ^ [8][18][19]
- ^ Tomson, Danielle Lee (25 March 2020). "The Rise of Sweden Democrats: Islam, Populism and the End of Swedish Exceptionalism". Brookings. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
- ^ "Sweden Democrats drop their call for 'Swexit' referendum on leaving EU". The Local Sweden. February 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ "Sweden Democrats drop their call for 'Swexit' referendum on leaving EU". The Local Sweden. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ "Populist Sweden Democrats ditch 'Swexit' ahead of EU elections". Reuters. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ "Strong support for the EU in Sweden ahead of European elections". Atlantic Council. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ Taub, Amanda (14 September 2022). "Sweden's Far Right Just Made History. Is It the Country's Future?". The New York Times.
- ^ [22][23][24][25][26]
- ^ *Downs, William M. (2012), Political Extremism in Democracies: Combating Intolerance, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 33, 149
- David Crouch (14 December 2014). "The rise of the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats: 'We don't feel at home any more, and it's their fault'". the Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- Ellinas, Antonis A. (2010), The Media and the Far Right in Western Europe: Playing the Nationalist Card, Cambridge University Press, pp. 10–11
- "The far right in northern Europe". Economist. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
- ^ Lišaníková, Kateřina (14 April 2016). "A Year After Swedish Elections: How Has the Country Changed?". securityoutlines.cz.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
r1089was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Här bildar nazisterna partiet SD – i Malmö". Kvällsposten (in Swedish). 14 September 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
- ^ Treijs, Erica (1 May 2017). "Nazist arbetade för SS – var med och grundade SD". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 May 2017.
- ^ a b Jake Wallis Simons (14 May 2014). "EU elections 2014: 'I can hear the boots of the 1930s marching through Europe'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ James Rothwell (4 September 2018). "How the far right Sweden Democrats could be kingmakers after this weekend's election". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
- ^ "Åkesson (SD) vill "städa upp" i leden" [Åkesson (SD) wants to "clean up" in the ranks]. SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
- ^ "Val till riksdagen_Röster" (in Swedish). SE: Val. 23 September 2010. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
- ^ "Valmyndigheten-Protokoll" (PDF) (in Swedish). SE: Val. 23 September 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
- ^ Castle, Stephen (19 September 2010), "Swedish Anti-Immigration Party Claims Seats", The New York Times (global ed.)
- ^ "Val till riksdagen_Röster" (in Swedish). SE: Val. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
- ^ "Val till Riksdagen – Röster – Skånes läns norra och östra" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
- ^ "Will the Sweden Democrats stay isolated?", Radio Sweden, 15.09.14
- ^ "Support for Sweden Dems slips ahead of Sept 9 election: poll". London: Reuters. 22 August 2018.
- ^ Hamidi-Nia, Gilda (21 March 2019). "KD-ledaren öppnar för SD-samarbete" (in Swedish). Retrieved 5 April 2019.
- ^ "Sweden's parliament elects conservative prime minister". AP News. Associated Press. 17 October 2022. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ "Swedish parliament elects conservative PM". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ Cursino, Malu (17 October 2022). "Ulf Kristersson: Swedish parliament elects new PM backed by far right". BBC News. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ "Sweden Democrats, far-right party, part of government for 1st time ever". CBC. 1 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
- ^ Anderson, Christina (17 October 2022). "Rightist Party in Sweden Gets No Formal Role but Big Say in Government". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 October 2022.