Hot eller offer? En studie av Sverigedemokraternas och Moderaternas framing av invandrare 2014-2023

Sammanfattning

Sweden and Europe were characterized by substantial changes in migration flows between the years of 2014 and 2023, which intensified debates regarding asylum and migration policies. As migration became increasingly politicized in Sweden, previous research points to a possible ideological convergence between the Moderate Party and the Sweden Democrats. This thesis examines how immigrants are framed by the Sweden Democrats and the Moderate Party during the years of 2014/2015 and 2022/2023, as whether the two parties have converged over time. By analysing the framing of immigrants in mainly party manifestos and speeches by party leaders, we characterize and identify two types of framing based on previous research: victims deserving support or as threats to society. The findings show that the Sweden Democrats consistently frame immigrants as a threat, while the Moderate Party shifted from predominantly framing them as deserving of support in 2014 to adopting a more threat-oriented framing in 2022/2023. Lastly, it is concluded that the parties have converged over time, based on the Moderate Party’s increase in their use of securitizing rhetoric, suggesting a possible trend of immigration being linked to security within Swedish political discourse.