Agree that some media coverage on Sweden is misleading but I also think these short-term takes & arguments pointing to the "failure" of Sweden Democrats are helpful because they distract us from the long-term currents swirling beneath Europe's democracies. Here's what matters 1/
1. Many of Europe's party systems are fragmenting. I'm stunned that some are arguing Sweden reflects 'success' of the mainstream. Fragmentation means more parties & less coherent coalitions, which makes it more difficult to deliver the strong & stable governments that EU needs
2. There is now a clear rightward drift on cultural-identity issues like immigration, integration & refugees, as studies have now shown. Since the 1980s, party manifestoes on both the centre right & centre left have become less "liberal" and more "authoritarian".
3. In past 2 years alone national populists have enjoyed records or near records in Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Netherlands & now Sweden. This is not 'simplifying' a trend. As a party family they're reaching new highs, incl. in historically "immune" states eg Sweden
4. Journos (understandably) obsess with the short-term news cycle. Here is the long-term trend in Sweden for radical right/SD:
1991: 0.1%
1994: 0.3%
1998: 0.4%
2002: 1.4
2006: 0.3%
2010: 5.7%
2014: 12.9%
2018: 17.6%
1991: 0.1%
1994: 0.3%
1998: 0.4%
2002: 1.4
2006: 0.3%
2010: 5.7%
2014: 12.9%
2018: 17.6%
5. Social democracy is in full blown crisis -lowest result for a century in Sweden (not even surprising us anymore, is it?)- yet few thinking seriously about longer-term implications of this. Arguably = more polarisation/radical politics. Good for Europe? Nope.
6. Lastly, as someone who 'grew up' in an academic literature where consensus was Sweden, Germany, Netherlands & Britain are resilient to radical right I'm struck by how much of this (Brexit, AfD, SD etc) is dismissed, mainly by writers on left (see what they want to see, etc)
or *unhelpful*
