Opportunity or obstacle? : The ambigous EU contents of Swedish election manifestos

Sammanfattning

There is a shortage of qualitative research inquiring into Swedish election manifestos, which could provide the research field with a deeper understanding of how the EU is discussed in election manifestos. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to examine signs of Europeanisation in Swedish election manifestos, employing a qualitative content analysis and the theoretical concepts of politicisation and Europeanisation. The results show that Swedish parties politicise several different dimensions of the EU in both national and European election manifestos, discussing contextual factors as well constitutional issues. While the parties thus display signs of Europeanisation, they discuss the EU ambiguously which adds complexity to the image of Swedish parties’ election manifestos as Europeanised. This thesis sheds light on how Swedish parties' EU discussion can be approached qualitatively, providinga deeper understanding of EU contents of election manifestos.