“White Paper confirms picture of SD’s background”

The first part of the Sweden Democrats’ white paper largely confirms the picture of the party’s background that researchers and journalists have previously given, a picture that the party was then critical of.

Ann-Chatrine Jungar, associate professor of political science, claims this.

Jungar, who researches populist and right-wing radical parties in the Nordic countries and Europe at Södertörn University, calls what is now being presented a strategic document for the election campaign. Opponents should not be tempted to take the time to demand answers that SD has already given.

– They want to disarm the criticism that SD has an extreme origin, says Jungar.

She does not find much new substantial information in the White Paper on who founded the party in 1988 and what ideological foundations and ties they had. She says that what is presented confirms what previous research and journalists have reported, despite the fact that the party often referred to it as party submissions. They are now listed among the sources in the White Paper.

– Among the founders were those who had their background and threads to old National Socialist environments in Sweden, both parties and individuals and then also with skinhead environments in the 90s. And they have had international contacts with the French Front National and with British extreme environments, says Jungar.

Another SD now?

SD emphasizes that today’s party is something completely different from those that were formed 34 years ago. A new generation has taken over.

– Some of today’s SD representatives have nevertheless joined the party when these people or ideas existed and were legitimate in the party, says Jungar.

She would like to read more in future parts about what became of the ideas and currents that existed in the beginning.

– It is clear that they have been important – just as for the Left Party, which was previously communist, and questions arise about how the V could support the Soviet Union, its authoritarian regime and the communist ideology. What was it that made it an attraction and how did the ideas live on? Ann-Chatrine Jungar wonders.

Seems solid

The political scientist Andreas Johansson-Heinö is the publisher of the liberal think tank Timbro. His spontaneous impression of the White Paper is that it is a solid survey.

“It confirms the image that the party was founded by and gathered individuals with motley backgrounds, including Nazis and fascists. They united in a very strong opposition to, not only immigration, but also how Swedish democracy worked. There is no doubt that SD’s roots are anything but democratic. ” Johansson-Heinö writes in an SMS to TT.

He points out that many of the founders only remained in the party for a short time after its formation.

“The most interesting question is how great the ideological continuity, beyond individuals, can be said to be. If part two of the White Paper draws conclusions about this, it will have a greater contemporary political relevance than this first part, which, after all, most consolidates what most people already knew or suspected. ” writes Johansson Heinö.

In response to a question about the White Paper, it says something about what today’s SD is for the party, he writes.

“No, it does not have to. Provided that today’s SD does not highlight the founders as inspirers, for example “.