Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Nuclear Nostalgia: How the Sweden Democrats Construct the Past and Future of Nuclear Power

Englund, Christina LU (2024) HEKM51 20241
Department of Human Geography
Human Ecology
Abstract
This thesis studies the relationship between the far right and nuclear power in the context of Sweden, where anti-immigration party the Sweden Democrats advocate for a massive expansion. In its nuclear rhetoric, the party relates the technology with the nation’s past to promote its revival. Nationalism gains legitimacy through nostalgic framings of national history. The period of the 1950s Swedish welfare state, metaphorically termed folkhemmet, serves as the golden age in the historical narration of the Sweden Democrats. Through interviews with representatives from the party, the thesis approaches the links between nationalism and this particular energy source by exploring the role of nostalgia in its nuclear politics. A theoretical... (More)
This thesis studies the relationship between the far right and nuclear power in the context of Sweden, where anti-immigration party the Sweden Democrats advocate for a massive expansion. In its nuclear rhetoric, the party relates the technology with the nation’s past to promote its revival. Nationalism gains legitimacy through nostalgic framings of national history. The period of the 1950s Swedish welfare state, metaphorically termed folkhemmet, serves as the golden age in the historical narration of the Sweden Democrats. Through interviews with representatives from the party, the thesis approaches the links between nationalism and this particular energy source by exploring the role of nostalgia in its nuclear politics. A theoretical framework on the politics of nostalgia and the relationship between technology, culture and national identities is adopted. The thesis argues that the Sweden Democrats employ nostalgic myths about history to promote nuclear power and retain an image of Swedish exceptionalism. Hence, an expansion of Sweden’s nuclear capacity becomes a means for the party to fulfill an imagined destiny of the nation and return to the nation’s past. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Englund, Christina LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM51 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9157153
date added to LUP
2024-07-24 10:25:13
date last changed
2024-07-24 10:25:13
@misc{9157153,
  abstract     = {{This thesis studies the relationship between the far right and nuclear power in the context of Sweden, where anti-immigration party the Sweden Democrats advocate for a massive expansion. In its nuclear rhetoric, the party relates the technology with the nation’s past to promote its revival. Nationalism gains legitimacy through nostalgic framings of national history. The period of the 1950s Swedish welfare state, metaphorically termed folkhemmet, serves as the golden age in the historical narration of the Sweden Democrats. Through interviews with representatives from the party, the thesis approaches the links between nationalism and this particular energy source by exploring the role of nostalgia in its nuclear politics. A theoretical framework on the politics of nostalgia and the relationship between technology, culture and national identities is adopted. The thesis argues that the Sweden Democrats employ nostalgic myths about history to promote nuclear power and retain an image of Swedish exceptionalism. Hence, an expansion of Sweden’s nuclear capacity becomes a means for the party to fulfill an imagined destiny of the nation and return to the nation’s past.}},
  author       = {{Englund, Christina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Nuclear Nostalgia: How the Sweden Democrats Construct the Past and Future of Nuclear Power}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}