PARTIBASERAD EUROSKEPTICISM I NORDEN En komparativ analys av Dansk Folkeparti, Fremskrittspartiet, Sannfinländarna och Sverigedemokraterna

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate whether the parties Danish People’s Party, the Progress Party, the Finns Party and the Sweden Democrats can be categorized within the same party family, based upon the parties positions regarding the EU and European integration. The thesis contributes to increased knowledge and deeper understanding about these parties stances toward the EU and European integration, with a particular focus on how euroscepticism is expressed within each party. The thesis addresses the following research questions: which category of euroenthusiast, europragmatist, eurosceptic and euroreject best describes each of the four parties? Do the parties fall within the same category, or are they dispersed across different categories? The categories are based on different conceptualizations of euroscepticism (Kopecký & Mudde, 2002), which composes the theoretical framework along with an analytical scheme based on the different conceptualizations. The material consists of election manifestos, party programs and party newspapers. The chosen material is analyzed through a qualitative literature analysis. The results indicated that all four parties are best placed within the category eurosceptics. The four parties appear to have a cohesive position on the EU and European integration and can therefore be considered part of the same party family.