Download full text
(436.3Kb)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-88140-6
Exports for your reference manager
A Historical Perspective on the Conditions for the Rise of Far-Right Parties in Scandinavia
[journal article]
Abstract Subject and purpose of work: This article analyzes the factors depicted in the literature as essential
for the emergence of far-right parties and assesses the importance of unemployment, immigration and
political establishments in the failures of the far-right wing parties in Sweden and Finland in... view more
Subject and purpose of work: This article analyzes the factors depicted in the literature as essential
for the emergence of far-right parties and assesses the importance of unemployment, immigration and
political establishments in the failures of the far-right wing parties in Sweden and Finland in early 2000s.
Materials and methods: Multi-methods approach is used in this study including case studies and
a novel technique based on Boolean algebra.
Results: The findings of this paper lead to the conclusion that the correlation between unemployment
rates and the electoral strength of far-right parties is weak and does not support simplistic thesis such as
high unemployment leads to extremism. Moreover, despite objectively favorable conditions in terms of
high immigration rates, the presence of non-European immigrants in a country does not in itself explain
the emergence of far-right parties.
Conclusions: The study points to the importance of political factors such as the differences between
the mainstream parties and tackling the immigration issue by the Liberal Party in Sweden and the wide
ideological span of the coalition government and the role of Finland’s special relationship with the USSR
that militated against the emergence of far-right parties in these countries.... view less
Keywords
right-wing extremist party; right-wing radicalism; nationalism; xenophobia; Scandinavia; sociocultural factors; microeconomic factors; political factors; Sweden; Finland
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
far-right parties; extremism; xenophobia; anti-immigration; ISSP
Document language
English
Publication Year
2020
Page/Pages
p. 233-244
Journal
Economic and Regional Studies / Studia Ekonomiczne i Regionalne, 13 (2020) 2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.2478/ers-2020-0016
ISSN
2451-182X
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0