Swedes’ increasing support for the extreme right is driven by a sense of crisis in ideology, or Swedish culture
Illustration: Chen Xia/GT
Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s new Prime Minister, announced the composition of the new government after the election. Judging by Kristersson’s comments, it is almost certain that Sweden’s future foreign policy will be more likely to be in line with that of the US and other European countries, including policies towards the Russia-Ukraine conflict and China. Any problems that arise in relations between China and the EU will likely also be reflected in relations between China and Sweden in the future.
A nation that insists on embarking on the “third way” has now begun to turn right. This is particularly remarkable when we observe the changes in Europe. In the 2022 Swedish parliamentary election, the far-right Sweden Democrats grew and became the second largest party. The party with roots in neo-Nazism, founded in 1988, has become a political force that can influence Sweden’s future development – this has reflected the changes in Swedish social thinking.
Although the Sweden Democrats do not directly participate in the cabinet this time, they will have a say in the design of all new laws, rule changes and budget decisions. They will also be able to place their own political agents in government departments to check the work of the other parties.
Anti-immigrant political forces in Denmark, Norway and other Nordic countries have been on the rise in recent years, forming a trend of opinion change across Northern Europe. Against this background, the Sweden Democrats, who have an anti-immigrant stance, increased and received more votes. In recent years, there has been a continuous wave of gang-related crimes in Sweden, many of which are related to the immigrant community. More and more people are beginning to believe that “it’s all the immigrants’ fault”.
But behind the anti-immigration rhetoric is the nationalist ideology “Swedish culture first”. The Sweden Democrats are firmly against cultural pluralism, especially bicultural identity, and emphasize the need to spare no effort to preserve the purity of Swedish culture. The leader of the Sweden Democrats, Björn Söder, once said that minorities were not Swedish, as ethnicity and citizenship were two different concepts.
According to the Sweden Democrats, Swedes are either born in Sweden, or immigrated to Sweden but actively identify with Swedish culture, choose to become part of Sweden and are loyal to Swedish culture. This strong cultural conservatism will be an important reason for them to oppose the further promotion of European integration, to be anti-Russian and to support a hard line towards Russia.
In the election, many Swedish voters changed their long-standing support for Sweden’s Social Democratic Party, not because they support the far-right political choice. They changed because they feel the increasingly strong sense of crisis in the ideology, or Swedish culture.
During the long post-war era, when Sweden’s Social Democratic Party was in power, the party’s insistence on the Third Way has made Sweden a country with the highest social development index in the world, with GDP per capita remaining in the top 10 for the most part. Sweden, home to around 10 million people, plays a leading role not only in Europe but also around the world in areas ranging from employment, environmental protection, education, science and technology to social welfare and social stability.
But in recent years, as globalization has continued to expand and accelerate, Swedes have felt affected, especially when it comes to economics and social welfare.
This is in line with the overall development in Europe. Some European scholars have pointed out that globalization’s weakening of sovereign state functions is mainly manifested in the three aspects – security, currency and welfare.
Faced with the shock, the Swedes will not give up the Third Way, but will take a step back to see if they could hold on to the achievement of the Third Way. They think, if they are the best, why can’t they just stick around? That’s why they voted for the right. It is also one of the reasons why this country, which has not been involved in a war for more than 200 years, finally decided to join NATO.
The rise of far-right parties in Sweden is in no way a positive signal for globalization. Given the political changes that have taken place in major European countries such as the UK, Italy and France in recent years, people are wondering where Europe is headed.
This question will determine the future of Western civilization.
The author is a senior editor at People’s Daily and currently a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dinggangchina