National myth-making and populist mobilization in Scandinavia

• This paper analyzes if and how the Sweden Democrats (the SD), the Danish People’s Party (the DPP) and the Progress Party (the PP) in Norway use myths of national exclusiveness and myths about the common man to radicalize popularly held sentiments to attract votes and gain political credibility in political space. The specific contribution is that we consider national myths to be a relevant political opportunity structure in the political competition of the votes. We conclude that both the SD and the DPP make use of national myths to gain credibility in the political space, in order to sustain populist mobilization in these countries. However, this is not the case with the PP in Norway. One possible explanation is that already before the PP emerged, other political parties in Norway, such as the Center Party, occupied the niche of national myths in the electoral market.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

National myths

Sweden

Denmark

Norway

Nationalism

Populism

The Sweden Democrats

The Danish People´s Party

The Progress Party

myth

Politics, Economy and the Organization of Society

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)