Extreme right wing parties or populist parties in the Nordic region.

In recent decades a flow of migration has presented new challenges to the Nordic countries. Large number of refugees seeking, and sometimes getting, permanent residence has led to political as well as social outbursts of protest. The most obvious example is the atrocities committed by a lone xenophobic terrorist in Norway on 22 July 2011, but there are many other examples of hate crimes and racially motivated attacks. At the same time protest parties with and anti- immigration agenda have grown in support. Such parties have been subject to much research in recent years, but several aspects remain unexplored. One such aspect is the links between prima facie democratic parties and the militant subculture. Such links can be more or less direct, but were highlighted by the fact that the 22/07 terrorist had a background in Fremskrittspartiet.

Also in Finland and Sweden extreme/populist parties have recorded recent notable successes, and are now permanent fixtures in the respective party systems. In Denmark, the Danish People’s Party moved from pariah status in the 1990s to acceptance as a permanent co-operation partner of the mainstream centre-right parties from 2001. From this position, the Danish People’s Party exerted considerable influence over immigration and integration policy during a ten-year period of centre-right minority government 2001-2011. As a consequence the numbers of accepted asylum seekers and family reunifications were significantly reduced.

This means that there are several possible topics suitable for a PhD project. It could be an in-depth country specific study, or a more broadly comparative approach. It could focus on the political parties, but also on the interface between the party level and the more extremist militant racist and nationalist subcultures. The exact project will have to be decided with the eventual candidate(s). It will also depend on language skills, as knowledge in the language of the studied country or countries is essential.