Sverigedemokraterna och deras väljare -populister?
The Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) has for a long time often been labeled a populist political party. It has however not been the subject of in-depth study to what extent the party really is populist. A study on whether the party and its supporters fulfill the criteria that a social science definition of populism would stipulate is therefore needed, in order to establish accurately whether the party is populist. The definition used in my study accentuates three qualities that specify populist organizations: an antagonistic attitude against prevailing power structures, demands for increasing democratic influence and advocating a certain people?s rights ahead of others.The qualitative analysis of documents central for the party shows that it fulfills all of the criteria illustrated in the definition that is the basis of my study. Concerning the sympathizers of the party, I show, with a quantitative analysis using survey data, that a majority of the supporters of the party also fulfill the criteria in the definition, and show propensities of being more populist than other Swedish voters.The conclusion of my study is that the Sweden Democrats are to be considered a populist party, and that their followers tend to be more populistic than other voters.