Neo-Nazism in a Welfare State: The Example of Sweden

Abstract

During the 1990s neo-Nazi organizations in Sweden were responsible for a number of acts of terrorism including desecration of Jewish cemeteries, attacks against refugee hostels, arson, and murder. Non-European migrants, Jews, Muslims, and homosexual men have been the principal targets. Neo-Nazi organizations have been skillful in producing and distributing „white noise” CDs for domestic use and export. This article analyzes factors and conditions that could explain the rise of this far-right terrorism, including the history of Swedish Nazism and changing conditions in contemporary Swedish society (lifestyle, perceptions of self and other, and the crisis of the welfare state and the party system).