When acting Sweden Democrat (SD; Sverigedemokraterna) leader Mattias Karlsson recently said that Islamism is "a greater threat than Nazism," he faced criticism from both Muslims and Jews. But Karlsson's views, and those of the party he represents, have been gaining support throughout Scandinavia since the end of the Cold War. Almost immediately after the wall fell, the SD were on the rise. In the 1991 federal election, they received 0.1% of the popular vote for the parliament (Riksdag). By 1994 it had tripled to 0.3%, increasing to 1.4% in 2002, 2.9% in 2006, 5.7% in 2010, and 13% in 2014. During each election, the SD's share of the popular vote has -- on average -- doubled. Over this time, the international migrant stock proportion in Sweden increased by more than 50 percent, currently standing at 14 percent of the total population. Some of the supposedly "extreme right" policies of the SD include an opposition to multiculturalism, instead favoring...(Read Full Post)