Social Democratic Party Responses to Migration and Solidarity in Europe A Comparative Study of Sweden and Greece

Abstract

This thesis examines how European social democratic parties respond to the politicisation of migration and solidarity amid the rise of populist radical right (PRR) competitors. Using a comparative case study of Sweden and Greece, it investigates why some social democrats have partially absorbed PRR frames while others have failed to translate adaptation into electoral resilience. The study integrates party competition theory, welfare state transformation scholarship, and debates on European solidarity in crisis. Methodologically, it employs a qualitative comparative design (Przeworski & Teune, 1970; Yin, 2014), combining content analysis of manifestos, speeches, and policy documents with secondary data on elections and public opinion. Sweden represents a universalist welfare regime anchored by the long-dominant Social Democratic Party (SAP); Greece illustrates a crisis-battered Southern model, shaped by PASOK’s collapse, SYRIZA’s rise, and fragile proEuropeanism. Findings show that institutional path dependency conditions PRR contagion (Bale et al., 2010; Van Spanje, 2010). The SAP moved from humanitarian exceptionalism to progressive restriction, reframing migration control as compatible with solidarity and preserving governing relevance. In Greece, austerity, organisational decline, and weak EU trust undermined social democratic adaptation: SYRIZA’s humanitarianism collapsed under EU–Turkey constraints, and KINAL/PASOK’s rebranding failed to regain issue ownership. The thesis argues that contagion is necessary but insufficient; social democracy endures only where credible welfare capacity, organisational resilience, and trusted European frames persist.