Dr David Rueda and Dr Johannes Lindvall assess Swedens insider-outsider politics

Swedens Social Democratic Party has struggled at the polls of late because it is no longer able to satisfy the needs of both insiders and outsiders, argue David Rueda and Johannes Lindvall in a new article.

The party has traditionally relied on a coalition of both labour market insiders those who have stable employment and labour market outsiders those who are unemployed or in precarious employment. Yet the economic crisis of the 1990s unleashed deep changes in Swedens labour market, leading to considerable more labour market outsiders. David and Johannes note that this evolution has render[ed] the latent conflict between insiders and outsiders salient, placing the Social Democrats in a bind, unable to meet the demands of both groups.

David and Johannes go on to explain how this dynamic offers an explanation for the Social Democrats declining electoral fortunes over the last two decades, and they conclude by noting that the dynamics observed in Sweden may be even stronger in other advanced democracies, where political cleavages are even starker.

David and Johannes article originally appeared in Policy Network, and was later republished at Politics in Spires. It is based on research recently published in the British Journal of Political Science.