Ger radikal högerpopulism ett ökat valdeltagande? : En kvantitativ studie om Sverigedemokraternas effekt på valdeltagandet till Sveriges riksdag

Sammanfattning: My thesis examines the effects of the last two decades' increased support for populist, radical right-wing party “the Sweden Democrats”. Previous literature mostly focuses on how the party came to claim large chunks of the electorate and there seems to be a lack of research that investigates the consequences of this development. This thesis therefor strives to investigate theeffects of the Sweden Democrats by looking at voter turnout. The study observes the 290municipalities of Sweden through the general election years of 2006, 2010 and 2014. By using panel data, I manage to isolate for both known and unknown variables and can through thischoice of method get close to providing a causal relationship, revealing that an increase insupport for the Sweden Democrats yields a rise in voter turnout. The result raises questions about how radical right populism relates to democracy.