The politics of opposition and European integration in Scandinavia: Is Euro-scepticism a government-opposition dynamic?

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Abstract (may include machine translation)

Scandinavian party competition has incorporated divisions over European integration to a greater degree than most West European party systems, but with considerable variation in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. From a comparative politics perspective this raises question about the relatively high salience of Euro-scepticism in Scandinavian politics, the differences between the three cases and changes over time. The central argument in this article is that Europeanisation of party politics - the translation of issues related to European integration into domestic party politics -is driven by the dynamics of long- and short-term government-opposition competition, and the key driver of change is party strategy. Whether at the centre or extremes of the party system, Euro-scepticism is a product of party competition - and is, both in its origins and development, 'the politics of opposition'.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22-39
Number of pages18
JournalWest European Politics
Volume24
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2001
Externally publishedYes

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