12. Adaptive Democracy in Times of Crisis: Lessons From Sweden

This chapter traces democracy in Sweden during the past decade and looks at factors that might conceivably make this democracy more vulnerable in the future. It assesses stability and change in Swedish democracy at the level of central institutions and the party system in view of the emergence of the right-wing anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party and the challenges this poses for Swedish political parties in general. In particular, the challenge of remaining representative in the face of competition by parties considered to be anti-democratic and developing workable interaction by crafting new political alliances. The chapter then goes on to assess Swedish democracy in the wider context of globalisation, digitalisation, increasing global inequality and the individualisation of political cultures, factors commonly explaining the backsliding of democracy by asking why Sweden, despite being highly sometimes uniquely exposed to these processes, does not show signs of weakening of its democracy.