The Politics of Opposition and European Integration in Scandinavia: Is Euro-scepticism a Government-Opposition Dynamic

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 questions 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 '.