While much research has explored factors that increase support for radical right-wing parties, the role of their local candidates has received less attention. This study contends that parties, particularly those distancing themselves from extremist elements, often struggle with a shortage of candidates, leading to both premature resignations and a lack of suitable replacements. This shortage negatively affects voter support in elections following candidate resignation. To illustrate this issue, the study utilizes a novel dataset examining the Sweden Democrats (SD), a party frequently grappling with “empty seats” in local assemblies, which are allocated seats after elections that remain unfilled or are prematurely vacated by local politicians. The analysis shows that these vacant seats reduce the party’s support by approximately 1.7 percentage points in local elections. This effect is compounded by voter turnout; when turnout is low and SD has previously failed to maintain their seats, their support decreases by as much as 10 percentage points. These findings emphasize the significant impact of a robust pool of local candidates on party performance, highlighting the critical role of local candidate representation for the electoral success of radical right-wing parties.

Recent research has suggested that the rise of the radical right in rural regions can partly be explained by rural identities. Yet, the nuances of how cultural identities and political allegiances are interconnected, particularly through cultural practices, remain relatively unexplored. This article addresses this gap by examining the association between car culture—encapsulated by interest in and use of cars—and political preferences in rural Sweden. Utilising three novel data sources that encompass survey data, electoral trends and the prevalence of EPA-tractors—a distinctive aspect of Swedish car culture—the study uncovers a strong correlation between these cultural expressions and support for the radical right-wing party, the Sweden Democrats, especially among younger individuals, often exceeding the influence of economic factors. The findings elucidate the connection between political and cultural identities and their role in shaping political behaviour in rural Sweden, providing significant implications for understanding the rise of the radical right in rural regions.

Local candidates are essential for democratic representation in local elections, yet the number of individuals willing to run for office continues to decline. This study examines the reciprocal relationship between electoral performance and candidate supply, arguing that electoral victories enhance a party's ability to attract candidates through a bandwagon effect, while losses drive both voter and candidate withdrawal. These dynamics are especially pronounced for niche parties which face heightened recruitment challenges when electoral support weakens. Drawing on a novel dataset covering more than 30 years of Swedish local elections, and using OLS, logit, and heterogeneous difference-in-differences models, the study demonstrates that electoral gains significantly increase the number of nominated candidates and reduce the probability of fielding no candidates at all, while losses sharply increase the risk of candidate shortages. In turn, parties that fail to nominate candidates experience a significant electoral decline, lasting up to three electoral cycles. These findings underscore the self-reinforcing nature of candidate shortages and highlight how the inability to field candidates poses risks not only for individual parties but for the quality of local democratic competition.

What explains the rise of radical right-wing parties in post-socialist Europe? Previous research attributes this phenomenon to the legacies of socialism, emphasizing the macro-socialization processes in education and civil society. This study introduces a novel perspective by highlighting the significance of limited interaction with the non-socialist states, proposing that such interactions could have facilitated micro-socialization processes that counteracted the regime’s indoctrination efforts. By analyzing the effect of cross-border traffic agreements between East and West Germany, it is found that areas with increased Western contact during the socialist era exhibit significantly less support for the radical right thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Moreover, employing entropy balancing to adjust for socioeconomic differences in the totalitarian period, this research demonstrates that individuals from these areas are half as likely to support the Alternative for Germany today, compared to a reweighted control group. This research offers a novel mechanism detailing how Western interactions could challenge entrenched socialist legacies, contributing significantly to the discourse on political socialization and the dynamics of political culture in post-socialist Europe.

By the early 1990s, millions across Central and Eastern Europe mobilized against socialist regimes. Despite their pivotal role in democratization, little is known about the long-term political trajectories of those who participated in these movements. Using three decades of intergenerational panel data from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), I trace the partisan alignments of 1989 protest participants—over time and across generations. I find that former protesters are consistently less likely to support the successor party of the socialist regime (Die Linke) and more likely to support its historical opponent (CDU) as well as the protest-origin party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen). Crucially, they do not show increased support for the far-right (AfD), despite the party's efforts to appropriate the legacy of 1989. They also display more right-leaning orientations, higher satisfaction with democracy, and substantially less nostalgia for the GDR. Among their children, patterns of partisan alignment—particularly rejection of Die Linke and support for the CDU—are evident only when parents are politically engaged, underscoring the conditional nature of intergenerational transmission. Together, these findings show that protest participants constitute an important segment of the electorate in societies that transitioned through non-violent means and are vital to analyze for understanding political behavior in post-authoritarian settings.

Over thirty years after the collapse of socialism, political behavior in post-socialist Europe still diverges markedly from patterns in Western Europe. These differences are often attributed to the legacy of socialism, where exposure to authoritarian ideas, corruption, or the absence of civil society fostered mistrust and support for radical parties.

Yet experiences under socialism were far from uniform. While the state restricted interaction with the West, some individuals maintained frequent contact; others were party members who benefited from the system; and there were both those who suffered repression and those who actively challenged the regime through protest. This dissertation argues that understanding political behavior after socialism requires disentangling these diverse individual experiences of life under socialism.

To explore this, the dissertation analyzes how varieties of socialist experiences continue to shape key political outcomes—namely, electoral participation, party support, and social trust. It draws on five empirical studies and utilizes thirty years of intergenerational panel data from the former German Democratic Republic, alongside comparative analyses across thirty post-socialist countries. The findings show that specific experiences—especially those of repression and mobilization—leave durable political imprints that persist both within individuals and across generations. In fact, variation in party support within the former GDR often surpasses the average East–West divide, underscoring the importance of examining within-region heterogeneity.

This approach challenges simple East–West comparisons by highlighting the diversity of socialist legacies in shaping political behavior in post-socialist Europe. As many post-socialist societies face renewed democratic challenges, understanding how past experiences continue to shape political behavior provides a more nuanced, historically informed perspective on contemporary democratic trajectories.

How are experiences from socialist rule reflected in support for the former regime and ideological stances after democratization? This study examines how varied experiences under socialism—whether as regime supporters or victims of repression—continue to be linked to political behavior decades after transition. Using three decades of intergenerational panel data from the former German Democratic Republic, the findings show that repression is associated with long-term opposition to the regime’s successor party, Die Linke, while former party membership corresponds with lasting support. These experiences also relate to ideological self-placement, with distinct left-right patterns persisting based on past affiliations. Within families, the extent to which these political legacies are passed down depends on political interest, highlighting that they are not uniformly inherited. By exploring how socialist-era experiences remain embedded in post-transition political attitudes, this study underscores the role of historical experiences in shaping political behavior in new democracies.

Wind energy expansion has influenced electoral behavior by decreasing support for incumbents, primarily explained by not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) arguments. However, how does the establishment of wind farms shape electoral behavior when municipal politicians can veto such establishments? Analyzing Sweden, this study shows that voters respond not only by retrospectively evaluating past constructions but also by evaluating parties differently based on their expectations. Our results indicate that parties more likely to approve turbine constructions are punished more than those less expected to do so. Additionally, we find no evidence that the construction of wind turbines influences support for either Green or radical right-wing parties. In conclusion, this study show that the political repercussions of wind farm expansion are multifaceted, influenced by a combination of past actions, future expectations, and the ideological stances of political parties.

Does the availability of alcohol influence support for radical right-wing parties, and if so, why? Drawing parallels to the UK, where pub closures led to increased support for UKIP, this study investigates similar trends observed in Sweden. Utilizing a novel dataset of over 50,000 alcohol-serving permits and electoral data from 2002 to 2018, the study finds that a reduction in permits is associated with a 3.7% increase in support for the Sweden Democrats (SD). To explain this, it is argued that bar closures politicize alcohol regulation and serve as a symbolic issue linked to the populist radical right. Survey data from over 20,000 respondents reveal that individuals in municipalities with a decreasing number of permits are more likely to support alcohol deregulation policies, and these voters become more likely to support SD. These findings underscore how perceptions of government overregulation drive support for radical right-wing parties.

In times of economic hardship, local governments often resort to school closures. These are often directed towards struggling rural communities, already experiencing substantial depopulation. The affected communities often react with fierce protests against responsible politicians. However, the political effects of school closures have mostly been overlooked in previous research. By using a novel geocoded dataset on all rural school closures in Sweden between 2013 and 2020, this study explores their political ramifications. The results show that school closures decrease the trust in municipal politicians and have negative effects on the support for the incumbent, an effect that is most pronounced for left-leaning parties. This study contributes to the literature on rural school closures and welfare retrenchments and expands previous research on social decommissioning in rural areas to include educational policies.